


As Long As I Have You

by madisonsharon



Category: Far Cry 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-04
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:01:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 36
Words: 24,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22116040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madisonsharon/pseuds/madisonsharon
Summary: Delilah comes to Kyrat to avenge her father, Gilead Carver, who had once led the Golden Path alongside one Mohan Ghale. What happens when Ajay Ghale and Delilah Carver's pathways cross? Will they unleash their lustful feeling towards each other, or will they demolish the corrupt, nefarious ruler Pagan Min?
Relationships: Ajay Ghale/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. Dinner Time

Ten years ago, I was fourteen. I was just a little girl who missed her daddy dearly. Mom was always home, and had to leave for work occasionally. But Dad, he went on long trips. Trips that took months at a time, once even an entire year.

"When is Dad coming home?" I ask my mother, who was cleaning dishes while I sat at the kitchen table. I didn't know what he did as a job, but it must have been very hard. At first I thought he was in the army or something, but then I read a letter he had written to my mother that said otherwise. I had memorized every single word by heart. One day, the letters stopped coming and we both knew.

"I'm not sure, but it might be soon." She says, wiping off the last dish. She then walks over to me and gives me a hug. Why won't she just tell me what I already know?

The letter had once said;

Dear Julia,

I'm in Kyrat right now. Things are not doing so good. The Golden Path is doing well, but I'm getting a bad suspicion about Pagan Min.

He's not a good man, his intentions are not good. I'm trying to capture the throne for the Golden Path, but I'm afraid our chances are running quite slim. Mohan and I are trying to finish them and their royal bullshit.

Please take care of Delilah, I may not make it back this time. I'm sending all my love to you both. Tell our daughter I love her. I have to go now, but please do as I say.

Love,  
Gilead

But, here I am. Stuck in Kyrat, sitting right across from the 'suspicious' Pagan Min himself. There was a man sitting on the left side of the table going by the name 'Paul DePleur' and another who I don't really know. He's just kind of there. Sitting right beside me is the Ghale himself, Ajay. He definitely looked like Mohan, from the descriptions my father had once given me.

He had deep brown eyes and hair to match. A clear, tanned face with slight stubble, and he had that look that all Ghale's had; the 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing' look. You could tell he looked angry, flustered and straight up upset.

"Now, your mother on the other hand...she understood me, she knew me in a way no one ever did." Pagan says, licking the ashes contained inside of Ajay's urn. Which I'm assuming is his mother's. It makes me sick the way he thinks it's okay to do that. How disrespectful can you be?

Ajay gets up from his chair, clearly agitated at Pagan for doing such a disrespectful thing. I didn't blame him, but Paul made him sit down for his own safety. Pagan was dangerous, my father died at the hands of the man sitting right in front of me. He hadn't been able to escape him, but I sure will.

"The last time I saw Ishwari was...years ago. She told me she loved me," Pagan speaks, observing the urn, "Women, no offense Delilah, they can do that. They can tell you they love you in the moment and mean it. Men? On the other hand, no, men only really love you in hindsight. When too much distance has built up." He wasn't lying at all, it was true. All the men my mother dated only wanted her for one thing. She trusted them and they just betrayed her trust, again and again. But, what was Ishwari doing with a man like Pagan? Why would she abandon her own husband like that? There were so many thoughts inside my head, maybe it was just curiosity of Ajay's past that fascinated me.

"So, when your mother decided to flee to the United States with you on her hip, I couldn't help but blame myself." Pagan says, grabbing one of his forks and standing up. Slowly making his way to the man to my right. I noticed that the man began to shake slightly, like he was about to die or something.

"Then I realized...it wasn't me. It was the fucking Golden Path!" Pagan yells, stabbing his fork harshly into the man's back. What the hell? I look over at Ajay, who looks just as terrified as I do.

"Fucking terrorists ruin everything! Did no one ever teach you it's rude to text at the table?" Pagan gets close to the man and starts slapping the man's hand to grab his phone.

The whole thing was absolutely insane! I couldn't believe that my father was dealing with this man. It's no wonder why he never came back home. Pagan probably had him killed and I wouldn't be surprised not one bit. This asshole has no conscience whatsoever.

"Leave him alone!" I yell at Pagan, and he just looks at me. I give him a harsh glare and he tells his puppets to take the man downstairs and interrogate him. Leaving Ajay and I alone at the table.

Ajay grabs his mother's urn and looks back at me. We were both still shocked at the way Pagan was to people and the whole situation was just unbelievable. What the hell was going on around here? A part of me wanted to go home and forget about the whole 'getting back at Pagan' thing I wanted. It didn't seem as worth it anymore. Was I really going to risk losing my life for some petty revenge plot that might just get me killed?

"Lets get the fuck out of here. Right now." Ajay says, and I don't argue whatsoever. I did as he said, and we walked downstairs and saw the man tied to some sort of electric wall. Like something out of a saw movie.

"Holy shit." I mumble under my breath. The man's hopeless screams filled the room, along with Paul ranting about how Dr. Phil had made some sort of 'impact' on his life and way of thinking. Ajay and I find a door and slowly and quietly exit the door, only to be caught by a man with black hair tied in a pony tail.

"Ajay Ghale. My name is Sabal, I'm with the Golden Path." The man tells us and then he locks eyes with me. I knew exactly who he was. The man my father taught to fight.

"Delilah. I've heard so much about you. It's wonderful to finally meet you, sister." Sabal says, slightly smiling. It was nice to see someone who isn't a complete lunatic talk to me in Kyrat, other than Ajay.

"Let's get out of here, shall we?" Sabal says, and Ajay and I follow suit. I didn't know what was outside that door. But it did not sound friendly.


	2. Welcome to Kyrat

"Keep your heads down!" Sabal yells at us, as he walks outside of the doors. Ajay and I look at each other and then run to the truck which was waiting for us. Meanwhile, avoiding gunshots, molotov's, grenades, and of course throwing knives.

"Holy shit, we made it!" I say, hopping in the truck. The driver immediately drove off, getting us the hell out of that place. The driver handed Ajay a handgun and he started to shoot the royal army people who were blocking the roads. His shot was dead on.

"There's a car coming right towards us, guys!" I scream and the car rams right into us, causing us to get thrown off the road entirely and fall off of the cliff. The screams soon ended with the silence.

"Delilah? You okay? We need to get out before the car explodes!" I hear Ajay say to me, over my pounding headache and hurt ankle.

"I can't get out! I think my ankle is stuck!" I yell, and I start to panic. If I don't get out soon, I would die. A very agonizing, slow death.

"Just breathe, okay? I'm coming to get you. Just stay still." Ajay says, climbing inside the burning car very carefully. He grabs my ankle and gets in unstuck from under the front seat. I winch in pain and he then pulls me out of the truck.

"Thanks, Ajay. I really owe you one." I say laughing, but I stop at soon as I spot the dead driver just behind a fallen tree.

"No problem, really. You looked like you needed a hand." He says, looking around for any sort of weapon to use. These people were fucking crazy, we definitely had to watch our backs.

We hear the sound of the radio buffering, Ajay walks over and answers the unknown caller. It was Sabal. The radio was still cutting in and out, but we were able to roughly make out what he was saying.

Sabal had said there was a bell tower somewhere around here, so Ajay and I scoped it out. It was about a thousand meters or so away from us. But, we had to be stealthy. There were soldiers out looking for us everywhere.

"Just walk around the outskirts of the camp, they won't detect us that way." I say, crouching and holding an AK-47 in my hands, along with Ajay. I couldn't imagine what would've happened if Ajay hadn't of been there to help me get out of the car in time. I would've died if it weren't for him.

By the time we had made it to the tower, people had been helping us. People from the Golden Path. They had given us guns, ammunition and support. We were just waiting on the Royal Army to show us and attempt to ambush us.

"You ready for this?" Ajay asks me, and I just laugh. I wanted to say, 'no dumbass, I'm not.' But instead I refrain myself from doing so.

"Yeah. Are you, tough boy?" I say, as I load up my AK-47 with ammunition. Ajay just does the same and doesn't ask anymore questions. It was probably better that way.

Soldiers kept coming at us, some on foot and some in snowmobiles. They were fast and definitely spent some time at target practice.

"Duck!" Ajay yells at me, and I immediately do as he says, avoiding getting hit by fire arrow. I look back over at him, stunned. Thank God he told me to do that or I might be dead.

Once there were less soldiers to fight, the loud sound of snow moving and the powerful tremble from beneath my feet had us all freaking out. What else could possible go wrong today?

"Avalanche! Take cover!" Sabal yells, and everyone gathers behind the tower to soften the fall. But, I was caught under a tremendous amount of snow.

I tried to squirm around and dig my way out of the snow, but my vision darkened and I found myself gasping for oxygen I couldn't find. I began to panic which only made my efforts weaker.

I feel someone digging the snow from above me, and I feel a warm, gloved hand pull me out of the snow. Weak and dizzy, I attempt to stand up and walk. But, I fail. Miserably.

"How many times am I going to have to save you?" Ajay laughs, carrying me over his shoulder. I had began to get my vision back and I felt a bit better.

"Oh, I don't know." I play around, still shaking from the bitter cold of the snow. I could feel Ajay's warm coat against my cold cheek. Slowly, I warmed up.

"Let's get you two somewhere safe and warm." I hear Sabal say, just ahead of Ajay and I. Where would we go? I had very little knowledge of the locations of my father's place here in Kyrat. I needed a local or some one I could trust to take me there. But, right now I needed to get warmer.

"Is it always like this?" I ask, and Sabal turned back to look at me. I was dangling off of Ajay's shoulder, which I'm sure was hard to take too seriously.

"No, but it happens sometimes," Sabal says, rubbing his own hands together, "Welcome to Kyrat."

I wasn't sure where he was taking me, but somehow I knew that I would be okay.


	3. Where to Next?

"You can't go alone! It's suicide! You saw what happened to that man!" I yell at Ajay, in hopes of knocking some sense into him. Climbing the radio tower was a very dangerous task, especially since a man had fallen down and gotten seriously injured while doing so.

"I can handle it, Delilah. Just stay here and help Sabal. He's going to need you."

"Just don't get yourself killed, Ghale." I say, as I was unable to stop him from doing such a stupid act. He had saved my life once or twice, I thought I owed him. Maybe he didn't want to be saved.

"I think Amita needs your assistance. Also, I would try to make things right. I know she wasn't in the best attitude earlier..." Sabal tells me, stepping outside of the shaded tree. Wasn't in the best attitude? She pretty much called Ajay and I 'tourists.'

"You really think she'll let me do anything for her? That's funny, Sabal." I ask, getting slightly irritated. As much as I wanted to learn about Ajay's past and mine, I didn't think I'd have to do charity work. Kyrat is in a worse state than I had once thought.

"Yes, but if you need more time to cool down...." Sabal says, reaching for his back pocket, "here's a map of southern Kyrat. Get some air, and then come back when you're ready." I take the map from Sabal and give it a good look.

There were many lakes, ponds, and mountains surrounding almost all of Kyrat. Kyrat was nothing like I had pictured. I had pictured something much different; more rundown, more progressed, and more traditional. But, it is beautiful. The misty, snow covered mountains in the distance were chilling but absolutely stunning. There were white clouds to match, filling the sky with blue streaks peaking from behind the clouds. I had gotten lost in the world of Kyrat.

I decided to suck it up and find Amita. I absolutely hated the feeling of someone not liking me. I spend some time looking through Banapur to find her, but I quickly found her helping a young girl shoot a bow and arrow. 

I walk up behind Amita slowly, and then I cough to gather her attention. 

"Can I help you?" She says, looking back and forth at me and the young girl. 

"That's funny you say that because I was just about to ask you the same thing." She gives me a weary look, like she didn't trust me. I could easily pick up on her unwillingness to tell me anything.

"Actually, I do need you to do something for me. There's a farm. It's not too far from here, ran by a woman who could use an extra hand with her wolf problem." She quickly hands the young girl another bow, and returns back to me.

"What do you mean by a wolf problem?" I ask her, crossing my arms in front of my chest. A wolf problem? Am I going to have to fight a wolf? That most certainly was not on my bucket list. 

"She has a wolves den beside of her farm, she is far too old to clear it herself. Prove that you're useful by showing me what you can handle." She tells me, and ends the conversation by giving the young girl corrections.

"This is Bhadra. Bhadra, this is Delilah Carver." Amita quickly introduces us before telling me to get on my way. Amita had a way about her that led to things being fast and efficient, meanwhile Sabal wanted things to be done well and to last for a lifetime. You could definitely tell the difference in opinions.

I grabbed a bow and arrow of my own and headed to the farm. Along the way, I couldn't help but be a little distracted by the pure beauty of Kyrat. I could see the infatuation with the land and the untouched by man scenery. It was absolutely jaw-dropping.

By the time I had gotten upon the farm, I could see a shadow of a person sitting in a chair with some sort of drink in their hand. As I got closer, I could see the woman Amita had described. She had several bottles of Shangri-lager thrown across the grass field and a half-drunken glass. This woman was a little too unsteady to be running a farm, let alone handle a whole pack of wild and hungry wolves.

I found my way around and spotted the den not to far away, I quickly but quietly made my way down closer. I could hear the faint howls and barks of the wolves in the den. I could hear the grunts and growls nearing closer to me.

I tagged all the wolves on my camera and made my way behind the first wolf. I stealthily snuck up behind the wolves and was able to hit it with an arrow right in the head. The wolf instantly fell over on its side. I had always been a lover of animals and I would have never had done this, if it weren't for the lives of many people being at stake.

I take my time taking them out one by one and get the hell out of dodge. Which is probably the best decision I have made since I landed here in Kyrat. I heard the cell phone that Sabal had given me ring. I scrambled to get to it, and saw an unknown number calling me. I accept the call and listen.

"Hello?" I say, quickly. For a second, there is only silence.

"Hey, Delilah. It's me, Ajay. You know, the one guy who saved your life one or two times?" He says, and I giggle at the fact.

"Yeah, thanks for that by the way. So, why'd you call?" I reply, wanting to get straight to the point. I hate wasting time on bullshit that could have been dealt with a lot more efficiently.

"Damn, you're pretty straightforward. But, that's okay. A girl that knows what she wants is a good thing." I laugh again, as I wasn't expecting such a remark.

"That's a good thing, huh?"

"Yeah, anyways the reason I called you was because I need your help." I sigh, realizing that it's probably another death-wish, "I cannot do this without you. You do have a very good hand when it comes to shooting a gun." It was true. My dad had taught me how to shoot a gun at a very young age. I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. He taught me how to survive on my own and fight for myself instead of expecting someone to come to your rescue.

"Okay. I'll be there." Here we go again.


	4. Heads Up

Instead of pulling into a calm, peaceful Banapur, I pull into a Banapur in panic. Houses and markets were on fire, people dressed in red and grey uniforms were attacking, and there were people screaming and running around everywhere. I hadn't seen people this afraid in a very long time.

I rush and pull out my gun and begin defending the poor people of Banapur. I could hear people screaming from all around me. For a split second, I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the situation at hand. But, I quickly regain my focus and composure and asses the situation. I began to shoot at the soldiers dressed in grey and red, whilst they targeted one building in particular. At the time, I had no idea why the focus was so heavy on this one building.

"Delilah!" I hear a familiar voice shout from behind me. I was then tackled to the ground, hitting my head on the pavement very hard. I winced and looked up at the person. It was Ajay.

"Thanks for saving me, for the what? Eighth time?" I say, giggling at the fact. If it weren't for Ajay, I would be dead.

We were soon interrupted by Amita and Sabal who were pointing to the building in which the young girl, Bhadra was in. Ajay and I rush to the building a break the back door down in hopes of rescuing the young girl, trapped in the firey inferno. As soon as we walked ion, we were engulfed by the toxins in the air that were slowly taking over our lungs. Cough after cough, we continue the search for Bhadra. 

"Delilah, she's down here!" I hear Ajay yell up at me from the first floor, he handed me Bhadra's limp body and made my way out of the burning house. Ajay quickly followed suite. I let the first breath of fresh air enter my lungs before my knees gave out. I fell to my side, dropping Bhadra in the process. 

"Bhadra! Thank Kyra you're okay." I hear Amita say faintly, and Sabal had also rushed over to Bhadra. I felt a pair of strong arms lift me from the roughness of the gravel and. carry my bridal style to the safe house just nearby.

"Thank you, again." I laugh, as Ajay grabs some clean towels and some rubbing alcohol, "At this rate, I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you." He laughed at me, and poured the alcohol on the piece of cloth. I gritted my teeth and he patted my knees and arms to get the infection out. Boy did it hurt like a mother fucker.

"Hold still, I don't wanna hurt you..." Ajay tells me, in a calm voice. His chocolate eyes met mine, and I couldn't help but gaze into them. He had this softer side to him, that only I had seen. Amita and Sabal had only seen the warrior side to him, and they saw him as strong and indestructible. Not only had he saved my life countless times, he also saw me the way that nobody else had.

"So, what happened to your mom? Is that why you came all the way to Kyrat?" I asked him, as he continued to tend to my wounds. He stopped for a second and just looked at me. Maybe I shouldn't have brought it up, as he looked hurt and distraught. 

"Yeah, it is. She died of lung cancer, and she wanted me to spread her ashes here, in Lakshmana," He told me, looking like a little lost puppy, "Do you know where that would be?" Lakshmana did sound familiar but I wasn't sure where I had heard it from.

"My father, Gilead, he came here and would send back letters to us about what was going on around Kyrat. I sort of remember something about Lakshmana, but I don't think it's a place. I think it's a person." I said, recalling a letter Gilead had sent back to me years ago.

Dear Delilah,

Things aren't going the way I was expecting. Someone is spying on the King Min, but I'm not sure who. I have a feeling that Mohan Ghale might have something to do with it.

I can sense some disturbance from the Golden Path and the royal army. I think they're hiding something about the Tarun Matara. Take care of your mother for me, D.

Love,

Gilead Carver

"I remember him saying something about a Tarun Matara and your father Mohan. But, I can't remember much else." I say, trying my best to remember what my father had told me. I could see the disappointment in Ajay's face. It was like I had taken something away from him.

"Let me know anything if you remember. Thanks for the intel, your father must be so proud of you, Delilah." He says, bandaging my wounds, and I stand up. 

Maybe coming to Kyrat wasn't a bad idea after all.


	5. No Rest for the Weary

The nightmare had set in. I was completely isolated and trapped by own selfish fear of being alone and deserted and vulnerable. It was like time had suddenly stopped.

"Mom, what's going on?" I say, getting out my warm bed to see what was going on. I rub the sleepy out of my eyes and make my way towards her. She's on the phone in the kitchen, nearly screaming and yelling at someone on the other line.

"You told me that he would be safe with you! You promised that he would come back home after a year, Min. No later than that. You lied to us. I want my husband back, whether you like it or not." I hear my mother scream into the phone. I decided to sit just outside the kitchen to listen in on the conversation. 

"You know the deal we made, Mrs. Carver. He may not come home until he has achieved his duties here in Kyrat. I'm sorry you don't like that very much, but sometimes you have to deal with the consequences." A man explains on the other line, he was much calmer than my mother, but had a monotonous way about his voice that sent shivers down my spine.

"Can at least speak with him? I need to tell him something important." My mother takes a deep breath and calmly asks a question back to suspicious man. I in chad my way closer to the kitchen, but still being as silent as I could to make sure she couldn't hear, see, or acknowledge my presence.

"You have two minutes. I suggest being quick."

"Babe? GG? It's me, Nina. Listen, I don't have much time. So, just let me say what I need to say. I haven't told D this yet, but she will find out soon enough. I'm coming to Kyrat. So we can be together again. I know that Pagan won't let you come home anytime soon, so I'm coming to you. I love you." That was the last thing I heard before she slammed the phone of kitchen counter. She started to pace back and forth and I knew that my worst nightmare had became my reality.

"Delilah, Delilah, wake up!" I hear a faint voice say, as I am shaken awake. I push myself up on my elbows and see Ajay standing over my bedside. I smile and sit up. It's funny how we get ourselves in these kind of situations.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" I say, getting dressed for the day. He sits down on my bed and watches me, slightly blushing. Not going to lie, Ajay was very attractive. The way his dark hair fell into his eyes, and the way he'd flip it out of the way. Everything about him was cute, in his own way.

"You know, it's rude to stare." I retort back at him, but he doesn't say anything else. He was just enjoying the view.

"We've got a long day ahead of us, so gather your things and meet me outside of here." Ajay says, as he takes his time walking outside. Damn.

I finish getting myself dressed for the day, and began to head for the door. Something felt weird, like maybe we shouldn't be going today. But, I decided to ignore that and just go anyway.

As we headed to the Alpha camp, the day slowly bled into the night. The sounds of the crickets chirping was just enough to keep my mind from going insane. Ajay and I had only been talking until the radio station cut in and out, then we decided to sit in utter silence.

"Listen, whatever happens tonight just know that you don't need to save me. I should be able to take care of myself for once in my life." I stated, trying to make it as obvious as I could.

"Whatever you say, D." I was shocked. Nobody ever called me D, other than my father. It felt weird to hear someone say that for the first time since he left home.

"Who said you could call me that?" I cross my arms in front of me.

"Who said I couldn't?" He retorts, looking at my red face. He then laughed at the sight and brush off my snarky comments after that.

"Are we almost there yet? How big is this place anyway?" I ask, waiting for a valid answer. It only took a second for Ajay to gather up what little information he had on Kyrat.

"It's quite a large chunk of India, and we will be there when we get there." Ajay says, making my sit back in my seat of the pickup truck. It was so odd to see the diversity between vehicular coloring, or the lack thereof.

"Okay, you wish has come true! We're here." He says, putting the truck in park. I make my way out of the truck and follow his lead.

This was going to be a long night...

We had made it close enough to the camps, where we could almost hear the conversations. I took the right side of the campsite and Ajay took the other. There was a enormous cage filled by an equally large animal; a brown bear. Just from hearing the agonizing growls, I knew it was definitely not something I'd want to mess with.

After taking out hunter, after hunter, the rest of the camp was only filled with blood-stained bodies. Job well done, or at least that's what Sabal would say.

"Hey! You okay?" Ajay runs over to me, holding a bloody towel against his hand. Pure co nicer washes over me. For all the times he had saved me, this was my turn.

"Jesus! Let me get you back to Banapur. And I most certainly won't take no for an answer."


	6. Stay With Me

"Ajay, you're not going!" I yell at him. Not only did he get his hand slit open by an unforgiving blade, it was his dominant hand.

"Delilah, I really don't expect you to understand why, but I need to do this." He fights, trying to push himself out of the bed. I walk over to him and sit on his bedside.

"Listen, you just need to rest for a while. The monastery thing can wait, your hand cannot." I say, handing him a glass of water from his nightstand. The boy was insane for thinking he can just carry on like some inhuman soldier. Ajay needed to learn that he needs rest, he isn't a robot to be controlled.

I stand up and head for the door, grabbing my bag in the process.

"Wait, can you stay? Just to keep me company?" Ajay asks, looking at me with those eyes. Those eyes that made me weak in my knees.

"Sure, of course." I give in, he smiles and knows that he won. As if his ego needed another boost.

There were so many thoughts flying around in my head. I couldn't help but question what deal my father had made with Pagan. What the hell made him do business with a man like that?

"You've got a lot on your mind? You look deep in thought." He says, brushing his back out of his face.

"Yeah, I just cant piece together something with my father. He came to Kyrat but he made a deal with Pagan. For an entire YEAR. Why would he do that?"

"What if you're just asking the wrong questions. What if he had no choice in the matter? You know how much of a smooth talker Pagan can be. Hell, you and I both saw it firsthand!"

"Maybe you're right..." Still, something wasn't adding up, "let me look through his letters again and see if I can find out anything else." Ajay nodded and grabbed my bag and pulled it closer. I had a whole collection of letters that my father had sent me. Ajay looked at me with a look of sorrow.

"Why the sour face?" I ask, shuffling through old letters.

"You just, never knew what a true father should be. It's not right, you deserve better." Ajay tells me, despite him growing up without a father figure in his life either.

"Maybe that's a good thing, Ajay. Maybe that was how it was always supposed to be." Ajay doesn't say anything else, but I can feel the tension in the room.

"Check this out; I found one of his letters that mentions Pagan and the 'deal' he made."

Dear Delilah,

Your mother told me she would tell you this, but I know how stubborn your mother can be. So, I'm writing you this letter. So, here's the truth.

Pagan is not a good man. God forbid if you ever come in contact with him, do not trust him. We will spill lies out like how blood flows through veins.

I do know something now that I didn't know before, Pagan has a secret. A big one. He has been foolishly toying with the Tarun Matara and got her pregnant.

The Golden Path doesn't know this though, as Mohan is the Tarun Matara's true love. Or, so he thought he was.

Another thing, the reason for the 'deal' was only to protect you.

I love you.

Love,

Gilead Carver

"Shit, he never says it. All he said was that it was to protect me. What the hell could that mean?" Ajay looks at me for a second and then takes another look at the letter.

"I think he knew something, but he couldn't say." Ajay suggests, but my father had always sent me letters, even Pagan knew about them. That's how he was able to keep in contact.

"That's it! He couldn't say anything because Pagan was the once who had them sent out of Kyrat in the first place. I think Pagan is our answer." I say, finally piecing everything together. It was actually starting to make sense.

"Listen, just like you told me earlier, you need to rest first. Let's think about everything before we decide exactly what to do with this information." He was right. It would be stupid to just show up at Pagan's doorstep with harsh accusations. We'd probably be shot on sight before we even got close.

I put all the letters away, and listened to Ajay. I talked to Ajay about everything. His mom, my mom, common ground, backstories, and history. It was nice to actually relax and enjoy Kyrat since we had got here. It would probably be the only time for a long time...


	7. Morals

Amita and Sabal were fighting again. This time it was over a plant. Better yet, a field of plants.

Whether it was about something stupid or not, they would fight until the day they died.

"Are you joking? We need to secure that shipment and those fields." Amita argues, and Sabal sighs. Amita always looked stressed out, like her entire life revolves around solving everyone's problems. A part of me felt pity for her.

"Amita, turning Kyrat into a drug state is not the answer." Sabal had a point, but Amita made a good argument too.

"Sabal, we have no natural resources. What happens when we are free from Pagan? The mines have been stripped, the fields have been ruined for years!" Amita retorts back. I could sense that Ajay was feeling tense. They always left Ajay to make the final choices. It must have been super stressful for him, I wish I could help but I wouldn't want to overstep boundaries that should never be breached.

"It's not our way. It never was. If you do this, you're no better than Pagan. It's morally bankrupt." Sabal says, and walks away from the situation. He looks agitated, like it was somehow all Amita's doing.

"Better than being literally bankrupt." Amita states, and walk towards the other side of the room. Ajay and I just look at each other. Kyrat is honestly a mess. It is directly split in two. It's like when siblings fight, but on a much larger scale. It's a whole fucking country at stake.

"What are you going to do?" I turn to Ajay, making him lose his train of thought.

"I'm honestly not sure, I feel like Amita wants me to feel one way politically, but Sabal wants me to feel like I should be like my father. You know, I don't actually want to be like him! He's dead for gods sake." Ajay looks down at his hands, wrapped in the same tan gloves he wears daily. They had some scattered scratches and nicks from trees and wild animals in southern Kyrati.

"Listen, you need to do what you want to do because you think it's right, not because someone wants to do it, you shouldn't have to feel guilty for doing what's right in your heart." I advise him, not being bias at all. He should be doing what he sees is right.

After a couple of moments of silence and long-thinking, I watch as Ajay makes his way to Amita. He was going to save the fields for medicinal use. Little did Ajay know, I had been to medical school and I knew about the chemical properties in every plant based in the West. Those fields contain a very useful treatment for infections and other contagious diseases.

"You ready? Let's go kick some royal army ass." Ajay says, as he reloads his assault rifle. He grabs some grenades and some more ammo for the mission.

"That's what I like to hear!" I smile, and we walk out to the truck waiting for us just outside the monastery. This was our time to shine.


	8. Reclamation

"Duck!" Ajay yells from a couple of feet away, and I do so as I hear a whiff of a bullet beside my ear. Holy shit, that was close.

The sounds of rounds of ammo being used echos through the mountainous terrain of Kyrat. The sound rang in my ears on repeat. I never thought I'd be shooting a gun and using it to kill someone. Who was I becoming?

I was interrupted by a rather large royal army soldier. He was stronger than normal, he had a much more powerful machine gun, and he was nearly twice my size. I was getting nervous, I was really nervous. I did what my gut told me to do....

"RUN!" Ajay yells to me and we slide behind a bush, catching our breath for a moment before reloading our guns.

I dodge bullet after bullet but managed to get hit by an arrow in my right side, earning a loud screech of pain coming out of my throat. It burned and continued to burrow itself deeper into my abdomen. Ajay finished off the soldiers as the golden path rebels came in to help, Ajay came rushing to me as I lay shallowly breathing and trying to remain as calm as possible. 

"Just...stay calm. And whatever you do, don't move. You could injure yourself further." He was trying to assess the situation with a calm demeanor but instead came across as very concerned and unsure.

"How many times?" I ask him, trying to take my mind off of the unbearable pain in my abdomen.

"What?" Ajay asks me, frantically. Searching my body for further injuries. My vision was slowly blurring and I was experiencing double vision.

"How many t-times have you saved me?" I get out, and continue to try to calm myself down, which wasn't actually working out.

"Not enough. I brought you into this mess, and it is my mission to get you out of it."


	9. Healing Wounds

My head felt as if a cement block was dropped from a ten-story building. It was a pain I hadn't felt for a long time, if ever. My vision was going blurry, and I felt a very heavy weight on my chest, making it very difficult for me to breathe. My hands were trembling uncontrollably.

"Just hold on, you'll be fine..." I hear a faint voice say from across the room. It was probably Ajay, I wish he would focus on helping the Golden Path instead of worrying about my sorry ass. I shouldn't be his priority so why was I?

"Hey, you're up!" Sabal says, from the right side of my bed. At first, I was a little startled at the sudden burst of sound that rang in my ears, but my eyes and ears adjusted to the room and noises that came along with it.

"W-what the fuck happened?" I whisper, regaining my composure before attempting to sit myself back up. I sigh and rub the not in my neck out.

"You got mauled by this crazy big dude, he had this huge ass machine gun! He was the absolute fucking mad lad! You should have seen it! It-" An unfamiliar voice approaches from the opposing side of the room. It sounded mature, and it most certainly wasn't Ajay.

"Uh, who the hell are you?" I look up and spot Ajay standing beside another man, looking a little scruffy, like he hadn't properly taken care of himself for a while.

"So, this is Hurk. He's going to watch over you until I get back. It won't take but a couple of hours." I gave Ajay a glare. I was a little upset, to say the very least.

"What? You're leaving me with this guy that I don't even know? Ajay , you can't be serious." I slightly raise my voice and express my concern for the situation at hand. What was he thinking?

"Deadly. I promise you I'll be back." I roll my eyes and cross my arms in front of my chest.

"Hurk, do you mind?" I ask, as he begins walking out the door. It was like he had been raised in a barn. Where were his manners? 

"No prob, sis." He nods, and continues out the door. Thank God...

"Are you going mad?" I stare at Ajay for a second, and then I stare down at the floor. I was just shocked that he'd save me and then turn around and leave.

"Listen, I'm really leaving to check out my parents' house. It's just around the outer South of Kyrat. You know how important this is for me. I know practically nothing." He had a good reason for leaving. Maybe I was just being selfish or maybe I was being too clingy.

"I know, just please be careful. Don't be saving too many lives, huh?" He laughs at my statement and grabs his coat and reties his shoes.

"I will." Ajay gets ready to walk out the door, but instead. turns back towards me and leaves a kiss on my forehead. He stops for a second and looks me directly in the eyes and smirks. I cant help but blush as he walks out the door. Woah...

Holy shit.


	10. Deal or No Deal?

t had only been ten minutes since Ajay had left me with Hurk. Yes, I actually decided to stay with him. That is, until Ajay returns. 

"You don't talk much, huh?" He says, taking a swig of some Shangri-lager. He was wearing a torn up blue flannel with equally unclean jeans that have several rips and tears throughout. He looked as if he had been dragged through a sewer and maybe even through some other deep, dark unseen places. 

"Listen, you'd rather be outside killing shit anyway. I'd rather be outside sightseeing. So, let's make a deal." I stand up on my feet, crossing my arms in front of my chest. I wanted to be out of the room I was in. 

"Fine, but don't you be out there gettin' hurt. You're boy started theatenin' my life." I was shocked at what the strange man had said. Ajay threatened him? I was dumbfounded and flattered and offended all at the very same time.

"Huh..." I spoke softly to myself, "Perhaps Ajay shouldn't find out." I suggest, beginning to gather my stuff and toss it into a bag. I was just going to get a good look at Kyrat. I really didn't want to do any fighting or killing. 

"Fine. I do be havin' some shit to tear up myself. Don't get yourself hurt, cause I sure as hell won't be takin' the fall for ya." I laugh, and he takes one last chug of his Shangri-Lager before getting up and heading out the door. Finally.

"You've got yourself a deal." I smile, and begin to gather my bag and head to the east side of Kyrat. Truth is, my father had mentioned a place in the area which was known as the Chal Jama Monastary. He had been visiting briefly to observe the religious patterns and origins of Kyrati people. I still am unsure of why my father was sent here, but I intend to find out.

Dear Delilah,

I have learned the motives behind the Golden Path, and it truly is heartbreaking. Not only have they lost their rightful leader of their country, but they are being brutally attacked and murdered for being upset about it.

I have been grazing through the rolling hills and flourishing greenery of Kyrat, but nothing is as mesmerizing as the Chal Jama Monastary. The true blood being bled into the place and the commitment is the only thing holding Pagan Min back from taking the whole place over. Maybe, someday you'll see it for yourself.

I wish for the day of peace and prosperity in the country, but unfortunately that day has been delayed. I'm sorry, I know I promised that I'd be home for Christmas, but I don't think I can make it. I'll make it up to you, I promise you that.

Love, 

Gilead Carver

I got back into my truck, and set out for the monastery. I wanted to check everything out, not like before. I only got a chance to see the place through the barrel of my shotgun. But this time, I'm all eyes and ears for the place. What I'll find out...I'm not so sure of.


	11. A Different Perspective

As I hop out of the truck, I gather my stuff and. shove it into a bag. I can't help but embrace the warm sun soaking into my skin, and the wind blowing through my hair. Things were...peaceful. For the first time, in a while. 

"Oh! It's Miss Carver." I hear one of the women say from inside the building. I made my way to the very front door and just took a deep breath. I really wanted to find out about my dad, but what else would I learn along the way? Stuff he didn't want anyone to know? Things Mom wouldn't have wanted her to know? I was scared, yes, very scared.

I was gently greeted and welcome with open arms, led through the establishment with a 'tour guide' talking me through the history of Kyrat and the traditions and their God, Kyra. I learned about the Tarun Matara and how Bhadra was to be the next one, following behind Ajay's mother, Ishwari's footsteps. Still, I had lingering questions about the entire thing. Some pieces of the puzzle didn't app up.

"Do you know anything about my father? Gilead Carver?" I ask, and the woman goes silent for a second. She walks me over to a quiet corner and sits me down on an elaborate elephant blanket, spread on the floor.

"Your father was a hero, he was one of the main leaders of the Golden Path in the early years. He was, however, best known for leaking the story of the Tarun Matara and King Min."

"Leaking a story? What story?"

"Gilead believed the main leader of the Golden Path, Mohan Ghale, was responsible for sending his wife, Tarun Matara at the time, to spy on the King, Pagan Min, to learn and gain intel about his plans to destroy the Golden Path efforts." She spoke softly, but not leaving out a detail.

"What does this have to do with my father?" I was waiting for her to get to the point, but I'm very impatient.

"I'm getting there." She gives me a hand gesture and I apologize. for the behavior. I internally laugh at myself for being so rude.

"Oh, I'm sorry..." I giggle, not wanting to be rude.

"As the story goes, whilst Ishwari was 'spying' on King Min, she fell madly in love and they bore a child together." She stops and looks at me again, and I just give a blank stare. She what? With who?

"Wait, what?" I probably looked like I had been told how babies were made for the first time, I was completely taken aback. What will Ajay say?

"Supposedly, Mohan didn't like this at-"

"Well, of course!"

"Mohan was so upset with his wife so he decided the most logical thing to do was kill the child, Lakshmana, in return for his wife cheating on him with the King. Ishwari then got quite upset with Mohan and murdered him in return for killing her daughter in return for her cheating on him. Does that make sense? Well, I guess that's it." 

My jaw completely hit the floor when she finished. I had to get to Ajay. He's been wondering about what had happened with his father and the connection to Pagan and his mother...it all makes sense now. It was as if the pieces had fell into their perfect positions and everything made sense.

Ajay has to know.


	12. Eyes of Danger

I jumped in the truck and pushed the gas petal down to the floor. I knew it wasn't that kind of rush, but what the hell. Why not?

I found my way to the homestead and made my way up the mountain. Why did everything have to be on damn mountain? I smiled when I saw the place. 

The house looked a bit run down, growing sometime of vine around the edges, but what made up for it was the spectacular view of Kyart through the mountainous clouds and endless horizon. There was also a gentle waterfall flowing through it all, making even more scenic. 

I looked at the door to the homestead and just knocked. I didn't what Ajay was doing, but I figured I'd be nice about respecting his privacy. Instead, I came across two young men, high off their asses saying some dumb shit about lamps and pianos.

"Hey! Who are you? And why the hell are you in Ajay's house?" I grab my pistol from my back pocket for safe measure. I didn't know them, they probably didn't know me, hopefully. I clearly had the upper hand, being sober.

"Listen, we uh...don't mean to be here. We were. just leaving actually." The short one says. I maintain my posture, not moving an inch.

"You're not going anywhere until you tell where Ajay is." I stand taller, making myself more superior in hopes of them spilling the beans.

"Feisty. I like it. You see-I'm Reggie, and this is Yogi." They both looked like they didn't belong in Kyrat. But, they have much needed information.

"Ajay was kind of kidnapped..." Reggie blurts out. Yogi shoves him for a second. What the fuck? How could he have gotten himself into this?

"He was forcefully taken to Shanath Arena." Yogi then buts in. I am left with more questions than answers. I thought I knew about Kyrat but I guess I barely know anything...

"What is that?" I ask, lowering my pistol slightly, just enough to still have some lineage against the two men.

"The place people don't usually walk out of." Reggie says, seeming to be the smartass of the two. What did he mean by that? Was Ajay okay? What if he needs my help? What if I'm too late?

"He means the place called Shanath Arena where people, like you and I, compete. against army fighters and vicious animals in a small arena." I slowly dropped the gun and looked at the two with a dead glare. Ajay was being mauled by giant tigers and I was just strolling through Kyrat oblivious to his situation.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me?" I yell, and internally beat myself up over not knowing. I should have went with him. Maybe I could have stopped it from even happening...

"Sadly, I'm not. Well, we must be going now...If that's okay with you?" I only give the two men an angry look and they both flee the house. I stay there for a second and look around. There has got to be a map somewhere around here.

"Bloody hell..." I hear Yogi from outside. I just roll my eyes.

I search the upstairs and find a map beside the bed, that hasn't been made in far too long. I grab the map and head back down the mountain and jump back into my truck.

Here goes everything...


	13. Second-Hand Pain

I ran up to the door of the arena, ignoring all of the people trying to catch me along the way. Nobody would stop me. Not even the guard.

As if it would be most convenient, I was able to easily sneak past the man, unannounced. I crept through the doors and followed the loud noises of people screaming with a mix of wolves howling and AJAY.

I got myself to a position where I could see him from above. He was holding an AK-47 in his hands, but was completely nude. They had already put him through the arena but then made him do it whilst he was naked? Jesus, this was ruthless. I watched Ajay struggle to eliminate the tigers, wolves and soldiers. Definitely plural. It was absolutely horrible.

I hear the announcement of the final round...but my heart stops. The two golden doors open and reveal the royal guard, Pagan's elite crew. The crowd went absolutely mad over this, I couldn't hear myself think for the all of the noise. They had very advanced machine guns when all Ajay had was a fucking AK-47.

I covered my mouth in horror. It was the first time I had really questioned if Ajay would be able to get through this. This time, I really didn't know. It was also the first time I had realized how much I cared about this one person. But, Ajay wasn't just a person. He was the person who saved me more times than I count on my fingers, he is the absolute sweetest and down to earth person, he is willing to risk everything to help someone out. I think I might actually have a thing for this guy...

I close my eyes, and try to think happy thoughts, hell, I even prayed to God. I was shaking, a part of me didn't want to hear what the results were, the other half wanted to watch as everything went down.

"VICTORY!" I hear Noore scream into her microphone, and I just smile. That guy, he is one hard son of a bitch to kill. But, I'm grateful for it.


	14. Intel

"Jesus! I'm so glad you're okay!" I see Ajay and rush over to him. I didn't realize how tight I was clinging onto him, until he spoke.

"Can't. Breathe." I laugh, letting him go in the process. He doesn't look that b ad after being brutally attacked by wild animals and bloodthirsty people.

"How the hell did you get in there?" I ask him, wanting to know how two high men could have kidnapped Ajay. 

"Yogi and Reggie." He tells me, not needing to say anything else. I already knew, and he probably saw that. I was just as aggravated as he was.

"Yeah, I met them at the homestead. They were high as a kite." I say, and Ajay laughs at the statement and nods at me. He was pretty calm for someone who was just being chased by tigers.

"Yeah, I'm going back there to give them a coming to Jesus meeting. You know, as payback for throwing me into a fucking arena." I laugh, but I know that he's not joking. When you mess with a Ghale, shit is going down.

"I don't blame you..." I say, moving in front of him. He gives me a strange look, but has yet to say anything. There was a moment of silence before our eyes met.

"Ajay, there's actually something I need to talk to you about...It about Mohan and Ishwari." He instantly looks at me and his eye glisten. I was getting nervous, I didn't know if he'd be ashamed or betrayed by the information.

"What is it?" He looks down for a moment before looking back at me. I didn't know where to start...

"So, Ishwari and Pagan were actually a lot closer than anyone knew." I carefully stated. He only gets more serious than before.

"What does that mean?" He asks, stepping closer to me.

"Mohan married Ishwari, sent her to spy on Pagan, but fell in love with him and they had a daughter, Lakshmana." The name must have meant something, as he looked like a deer in the headlights. He looked stone cold, like he was shocked.

"That's where, who I need to see." What? Why was he. suddenly just ready to go? Did he know something?

"What? What are you talking about?" I ask him, out of curiosity.

"I need to find this Lakshmana, she's my half sister." My heart sank, as I knew the ending of the story wasn't as happy as Ajay would have hoped. It made my body tingle and my hands sweat.

"Ajay, I wasn't finished...Mohan found out and killed Lakshmana. Ishwari got so mad, she murdered Mohan for killing Lakshmana. Ajay, I'm so sorry." I try to be as calm as I can, but Ajay's eye gloss over with pain bleeding from his eyes.

The man let a tear slip down his cheek. It was the first time I had seen him cry, or show any form of weakness for that matter. It was like the man had cracked into little fragments...which one would he follow?

"Ajay..." I try to soothe him, but he breaks down and hugs me back. We stayed like that for a while, until he was back to himself again.

"Thank you, you're such a good person, D." Ajay says, placing his hand around my face. My face started to get warm, and my heart started to race. He slowly leans in and kisses me for the first time. His lips were soft, and his breath was matched with mine. I place my hands around his neck and he adds another gentle hand around my head. 

We were shortly interrupted by phone call from, you guessed it, Amita. She seems to always have the worst timing.

Damn.


	15. The Sleeping Saints

We began to head up the mountainous cliff and figure it would be easiest to just use a grapple to climb up rather than trying our hand at free-range rock climbing. Out of the corner of my eye, I spot two very large, ancient, and beautiful statues looking like they were praying. 

Ajay and I continue our way up the mountain, trying our best to remain as stealthy and quiet as possible. It wasn't until I hear a loud boom, that I was starting to get worried...

One of the statues began to collapse and create a very large cloud of debris, making Ajay head straight for the detonator.Conventional wisdom would usually recommend a slow and steady approach to this attack due to the significant number of enemies, but an immediate dash up the stairs seems to work wonders for us. 

We began to quickly head straight up the middle of the base, through the cloud of the fallen statue. We rush up many flights of stairs, which will lead us to a very advantageous position. One that will hopefully grant us success.

"Here!" Ajay yells, reloading his gun. We decide to use the two full pillars and one broken pillar as cover from the enemies that are shooting us up. Many rounds are made before a wave of silence sweeps over the hills.

"Do you think it's over?" I look over at Ajay, who isn't panting, sweating, or showing any signs of fatigue.

"No, they've only just begun." Ajay laughs and he recoils his gun in the air. He was a badass. Really, nothing could stop him.

We then spend about a minute clearing out the troops from here. Just below me, there is the sniper, and the detonator. I see a ladder leading up to that level in between two columns. There are two or three soldiers up there, so I get ready. I manage to take them out.

Ajay uses his rocket launcher to take out the jeep, and other enemy vehicles. Right before...

"HELICOPTER!" Ajay yells at me, from above. Holy shit. And it should be known that, that is just the first helicopter. 

We clear out any would-be assassins that have made it up to our level of the ruins, are perched at a distance and have a clear shot at us. Soon following the first chopper, an attack helicopter arrives with a heavy machine gun. I was getting very nervous, it was like a never ending battle. 

We manage to clear out any remaining troops and soldiers from the statues. Ajay's radio starts to beep, and it's Amita. 

"Alright, I'll do it." Ajay, puts his radio back in his pocket and reloads his guns. Amita and Sabal were treating Ajay like he was some kind of toy, like a puppet. They could be so needy when it came to him. 

"What now?" I ask him, giving him some space. I. didn't want to make him feel like he was always being watched or looked after. I knew what that felt like, and it wasn't very fun.

"We've got to block the entrance..." I nod, and we began to head to the path to our left and I find a grapple point to climb to. Ajay follows behind me, and we see the rocks Amita wanted us to blow up.

"Take aim at the shiny rocks and let 'em have it." I say, Ajay just laughs and blows the rocks up, causing them to fall and block the entrance to the statues.

"That's a wrap."


	16. City of Worry

"Ajay, did you get my family?" Noore says from Ajay's radio. She expects a lot from him, considering she's the one who decided it would be cool to throw Ajay into the arena.

"Not yet, I'm making my way there." Ajay responds, and looks at me. I smile at him, but he doesn't say anything. I'm not going to lie, this was not going to be easy. Capturing Paul without anyone finding out, seeing us, or hearing us was one very difficult task. I wasn't sure if we were going to do so successfully...

"Okay...Look, you must sneak in. It's important. Paul is a rat, and rats always find their way off a sinking ship. He can't suspect anything, until it's too late. And don't forget, Ajay, he's throwing a party. Find out where he's kidnapping his meat and sneak in with them." Noore says, and Ajay listens. I come with a plan, a plan to get Ajay in and out as soon as possible.

"Ajay, I think I have a plan. When we get to the outpost, you sneak in the vehicle and get to the compound. When you get there, send me the coordinates and I'll be there as fast as I can with a car. Amita will send me coordinates of where they want him. I can take you both there." I spit out, looking at the entire situation logically. Which, made sense. I could tell Ajay was following because he always furrows his eye brows when he's focused. 

It was something I had picked up on, not exactly asked about. He would always have little things, quirks, that he would do when certain things happened or when he was in a mood. He was like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon, you knew he was upset, but the next thing you know he's happy and ecstatic about life.

"You ready?" I ask him, getting ready to switch seats with him as he goes to the outpost. I was nervous, to say the least. If he gets caught, he could be killed. The guards were ruthless, they would do anything to please Paul, or anyone with any sort of authority for that matter.

"As ready as I'll ever be." He says, getting out of the drivers seat and smiling at me. He had the sweetest smile with glossed eyes to match perfectly. He was so beautifully average, but that's what made him different in my eyes.

"Ajay," I say before learning in for a kiss, "be careful." I smile, and begin to back out of the road to turn around. 

"Amita, I'm going after Paul. Delilah is going with me as backup." I hear Ajay radio to Amita just before pulling away. 

I listened to the sound of my own heartbeat, heading to a hiding spot to wait for Amita to send me coordinates. It was a painfully long time, like maybe she had forgotten. Which, normally would have made me annoyed, but makes me furious as Ajay is risking his life yet again for the fucking Golden Path.

"Sending you the coordinates now. Delilah, do not get caught." Amita says through my radio, and I reply with a simple 'okay' and start to drive to the compound.

City of Pain, huh? What a fitting name...


	17. The Getaway Car

My heart begins to race, my palms are getting sweaty, and my breathing is becoming heavier. Ajay was supposed to be here by now, but he's not. I had been just outside the compound for a little over thirty minutes. I drove as fast as I could when Amita sent me the location. But, Ajay was nowhere to be found...

"DRIVE! OH SHIT!" I was lost in my own drowning thoughts until I hear Ajay scream, as he jumps in the passenger seat of the little car. I could hear Paul in the truck hitting the sides of it.He sounded quite angry. He was talking, but I wasn't listening. I was staying focused on the road that lie ahead. It was like I was going through a tunnel, everything went quiet in my head for a while.

I had the gas pedal all the way to the floor. I couldn't tell how fast I was going, but I know it was well over 100 miles per hour...traveling through the rolling hills of Kyrat.

We had made it, or at least Ajay had said we did. I slowed down and pulled into the little shack the Golden Path had set in place for Paul. How special. Cause this is what he deserves for being one cruel son of a bitch.

"He's alive. If you had killed him, I wouldn't have blamed you." Sabal tells Ajay, looking him dead in the eyes. There was something that kept Ajay finding himself siding with him. Was it his ways or did it have something to do with Mohan?

"Yeah, I'm alive. You fucking taxi driver." Paul spats at me, but a Golden Path soldiers hit him good in the gut with his AK-47. The most satisfying thing to happen all day. I enjoyed every second of it. I wasn't the only one who was tired of rescuing people that he took away from us. He was only thinking of himself, not putting anyone above himself. 

"Show him to his new home." Sabal says, as his ex-hostages throw rocks at him. What a prick, Paul was. He's a monster, a murderer, a piece of shit that can walk. Which, I'm not sure Amita will keep it that way for much longer...but she'll make it slow and as agonizing as possible.

"Thank you both. This is a good thing you've done here. We'll take care of Paul. We have the perfect spot for him." Amita says to Ajay and I, but I only look at Ajay. All I did was drive a car. It was all Ajay.

"Good work, son of Mohan." I say, playfully playing with his jacket. He only smirks as he watches me. He was one handsome guy. You could say I was starstruck, he was virtually famous in Kyrat. The Ghale name is treated with the utmost respect, the citizens constantly make that clear. I don't know how he doesn't let the get in his head. 

"Don't start that shit, D." He knew that when he called me D, it made me weak. That little fucker...

"What if I do?" I spoke back, acting all innocent until proven. guilty. He bit his lip and grinned. I think we both know what he wanted to do. Or what I wish he would do.

"I'll have to stop you-" Ajay says before gently slamming into my lips with his own. His lips were soft, and moist with passion. and lust for more. He had this thing about him, this gentle but toughness in him that I couldn't describe even if I had a dictionary with every single language every spoken.

Ajay Ghale; the true son of a legend. A legend himself.


	18. Advanced Chemistry

Ajay and I jumped into the truck and eagerly drove to the homestead. We held hands the entire way there, hunger for love and lust was what my brain was running on; like an autopilot. There was an instant connection I had felt with him, unlike anyone else. Ajay was special.

Ajay left the keys in the ignition and jumped out of the car. I quickly followed suit. Once we were back together, we grasp hands and run into the homestead. It was a little walk from the road, just up a couple of stairs leading to the house. The scenery was very beautiful, but Ajay had my eyes on him.

Once we had reached the door, Ajay leans in and kisses me, slowly at first but then gradually gets more rough. My hands find their way into his hair, wrapping my arms around him for support. He picks me up, and I wrap my legs around his torso.

I don't stop, but I find myself breathless. Ajay just knew how to do these things, he showed he wasn't new to the female scene. He knew what he was doing.

I let out a slight moan, and a grin appeared across Ajay's face, he was enjoying my state of weakness. He knew exactly which strings to pull; like a was his puppet.

The day slips into the night and Ajay and I began to fall into a deep slumber. I was still awake, thinking about what just happened...

"You're so beautiful when you think." Ajay speaks, his voice in a low husky vibrato sound. I rolled over to face him, seeing his brown eyes sink into mine, like how a waterfall drips into a lake. He gave me such joy, more than just adventures and killing the bad guys, he was someone I hadn't ever had in my life. 

"You know-"

"Wait, let me finish." I sigh, but continue to listen to him, "You're always smiling, even when we are in the direst of situations. You just continue to glow, like you have all the answers. I can't focus around you, I-I love you. I love you, Delilah. And I will not stop saying that until the day I die." He holds my hand, and kisses it. He treated my like a glass sculpture, if he dropped me I'd break into a million pieces. 

I had tears sliding down my cheeks, he was being honest. I could tell, he looked away when he was lying. He kept looking directly into my eyes, like he could see into my soul. It was burning holes into my heart. 

"I love you too, Ajay." I say, pulling him into a honeymoon position. We stay that way, the time was slipping by us but we didn't mind it. It was nice too slow down and see the world in a different light for a while.

We began to slide back in to a slumber so deep, even the Mariana trench couldn't wake us up. We had a connection. We had something that nobody gets all the time, we had chemistry. 

Advanced chemistry.


	19. Morally Bankrupt

"Do you think this is easy? Being the first woman in the Golden Path. The one pushing for change while everyone else talks behind your back about how you're destroying their heritage.I am every bit the fighter, the Kyrati, that they are. But they just see a woman." Amita looked very lost, she was pacing back and forth and started to stumble over her words.

"I know, this is hard for you-" 

"Tell me Ajay, am I the right person for this?" Amita stops him, and asks him a simple question. In which he would answer with a simple yes or no.

"Listen, I think you are the right one here. You want to pave the way to the future." Ajay says, and he tries to comfort her. I could tell he was slightly uncomfortable, but he tries. I decided to step back, it's not my place to be involved with the decision. It was really up to Ajay.

"Sabal, he's got all these supporters and I just keep thinking...are they blind or am I just missing the point?" Amita leans against the railing and sighs. Ajay looks down where Sabal and two soldiers were standing.

In a weird way, I completely understood Amita. Women in America had it great; we were treated well and gained our respect. People in Kyrat, however, are not as lucky. They are treated like slaves and property. It wasn't right, and I could tell Amita's getting tired of the bullshit. She wants change and I don't blame her.

"Remember that plantation? The poppies here, have been shipped to an old brick factory for processing..." Amita moves on, regaining her composure.

"Okay..." Ajay crosses his arms in front of his chest, getting focused on what Amita would say next. She was going to send him on another mission that could get him killed. It wouldn't be a mission without imminent death, huh?

"Sabal wants to destroy it, he's sop sure of himself." Amita tells him, and I step in. I was going to help Ajay, come hell or high water. He needed the help, or I wanted an excuse to spend more time with him.

"And you want to capture it?" I ask her, grabbing the keys to the truck. I knew Ajay would take the task and doing his damn best to complete it. That's just how he was.

"Exactly! That's everything we need to plan for the future while he's stuck in the past." Amita says, happily giving Ajay a map to the old brick factory. I had lost my attention for the situation and I found my eyes peering over at Sabal. He was so supported by everyone and Amita had nobody but Ajay.

"You ready?" I nod back to Ajay and we head to the old brick factory, just a bit north from here. It wasn't too long of a drive, but it felt like a thousand years. Ajay and I had been pretty busy since the night at the homestead. We weren't different, but we were strangely comfortable with each other.

"You need to shut off the power generators outside the factory to smoke out the soldiers." I tell Ajay, holding the binoculars in my hands.

"Okay, you are my eyes. You radio me when there is trouble or reinforcements."

"Okay," Ajay starts to walk off, "Ajay, be careful." Ajay turns around and leaves a kiss on my cheek. He keeps me on my toes and never knowing, but I like it.

"Why do you keep looking at me like that?" I ask him, and he smiles. Giving me a look, that made me question him.

"You're hot when you're bossy." I laughed at him, and he continued walking towards the factory. I was actually pretty calm for this, Ajay was very stealthy so I wasn't as worried about him getting caught. But, it was a very sunny day and I don't think the driver is blind.

"Whatever. The first generator is up against the factory and is next to the green smoke. Be sure to keep a look out for the truck patrolling the premises. They look quite armed." I say, talking to Ajay through the radio he gave me. I was cautious and quiet, I definitely didn't want to be heard by anyone but Ajay.

"The second generator is by the exit path from the factory. There is only one soldier near this generator who is working on some target practice, sneak up and take him down before you shut down the generator." I tell him, watching him knock the generators out of commission one by one.

"Now you can head towards the office building outside of the factory, there's nobody standing in your way." I tell him, as he continues to tread around the factory.

I could see a slight struggle, but Ajay quickly got it back together.

"The third factory is next to the outdoor office building. This seems to be the most heavily guarded of the three, and will require a bit more work. Just, tread carefully." I give him the directions and he follows them with flying colors.

"Now that you have shut off the generators, it's time to head into the building and find the chemist. Amita says he betrayed the Golden Path, she wants him dead. The entrance is on the other side of the building, it should be close to the first generator and through the green doors." I tell him, listening to Amita and Ajay's radio at the same time.

"When you enter the factory, you are not immune to its effect. Ajay, do not let your guard down. You will have to work your way through the remaining soldiers." I tell him, being very careful with my words. I wait for a few minutes and hear nothing from Ajay.

I get very nervous, he wasn't answering any of my radio calls. He wouldn't respond. I start to pan over the entire area for him but don't seem to see or hear him anywhere.

I look and see him stumbling out of the factory and I start to run towards him. I was so thankful that he had made it. A part of me was not surprised; I knew he could do it. He gets through everything.

Thank Kyra.


	20. Thankful

"Thank God you're okay." I hugged Ajay, I felt him struggle to hug back. He was coughing and looked very dizzy. I help him stand up, and regain his stance. 

"I'm okay, D. Don't worry so much." Ajay says, standing back up. He started to walk towards the truck and I stopped him before he could get in.

"No way in hell am I letting you drive." I tell him, shutting the car door in front of him. He turns around to face me, clearly annoyed at me. Not that I was offended, but I was offended. 

"Delilah, I'm fine. You're being dramatic." He tells me as he rolls his eyes at me and gets in the passengers side of the vehicle. He hops in and gets his seat buckle on. 

"Excuse me? Says the one who was almost eaten by an elephant two minutes ago." I tell him, but he just retorts back to me, obviously getting very upset with my comebacks.

"It wasn't trying to eat me, it was just being friendly." He says, explaining the common k knowledge that elephants are relatively calm animals until provoked.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever floats your boat." I tell him, trying to get him to shut up so I could get him back to the homestead. He quickly fell asleep and leaned his head against my shoulder and was snoozing perfectly. It was the sweetest thing to have happened since my arrival in Kyrat. 

I hadn't ever been so thankful for one person in my entire life.


	21. Bloody Hell

Noore has been the head of the arena, and has led to the deaths of many people in Kyrat. Though you know what led her down this path, the Golden Path wants her head on a stake.

Amita and Sabal told Ajay and I to head to the Shanath Arena. For once, they can agree on something. They agree that Noore needs to be eliminated from Kyrat and off the face of the Earth. Personally, I am not too fond of Noore for throwing Ajay into the arena with no fucking idea of what was about to happen. So, I won't have a problem taking her out, she needs it. She deserves it.

"Looks like we actually need to do some grappling to find a secret entrance into the arena. The door is crowded, shit. There is a grapple point up high, to the right of the entrance into the Arena."

"I see some path into the ventilation system." Ajay says, following behind me as I grapple up a little mountain side and into the backstage entrance. Everything was telling me this was going to be a bad experience for Ajay, he was different since he had been in the Arena, a coldness had washed over him when he was required to take someone out. It was dark, but nothing I hadn't seen before in Kyrat.

"Grapple up there first." Ajay tells me. We both enter the door and begin weaseling our way into Noore's base. I get very nervous for Ajay, I wasn't the one who was going to be speaking with Noore, that was supposed to be Ajay's duty. 

There was quite a few tight corridors to maneuver through, and a handful of soldiers to handle. We try our best to keep a low profile and takedown these soldiers. We were supposed to find the animals and let them out, but that is located in the Control Room. We stay low and keep our heads down as we find our way to the control room.

This room seems to only have one soldier inside which is the "brains" behind the arena. I see a number of levers that activate the ability to unleash the predatory animals into the arena. I look at Ajay and we both pull the levers down multiple times and enjoying it while doing so. I found myself having a good time being totally destructive and irresponsible but I loved it.

I could hear Noore from the deceased soldiers radio, and she didn't sound very pleased. She sounded very upset and wanted whoever it was in the control room dead. It was only seconds before soldiers would come into the room to ambush Ajay and I. 

Instead, we sneak past the furious bloodthirsty soldiers and are able to get into the arena and behind Noore. I look above Noore and see an arena full of people screaming and having the time of their lives. It was like time had froze for a second. Ajay was holding his pistol in his left hand, but couldn't bring himself to it point at Noore. Instead, Ajay decides to just simply confront her for what she's done. 

"People of Kyrat, I have given you winners to cheer for and losers to mock. But none so bloody, so desperate, as today's gladiators. But there is always more blood to come!" Noore yells, throwing her hands in the air with intent of expression. Ajay was slowly walking closer to Noore.

Ajay gently grabs Noore's shoulder and she turns around nervously, and immediately asks him where her family is. Sadly, her family was already dead. And had been for years now. It was hard to hear, but she needed to know.

"I'm sorry, Noore," Ajay holds her as she breaks down, "Pagan had them killed years ago." Noore, just sits there for a second, crying into Ajay. She pushes him away and grabs Ajay's knife.

"I don't need your pity. I want my family back." She yells at us, throwing the kn ice around like a crazy person. She looked distraught, I mean, how would you feel if you were told your family was dead?

"Listen, I'm sorry. But you're free now." Ajay tries to talk sense into her, but she's a mess. She looked like she had been hit by a semi truck going ninety miles an hour on the interstate.

"Free? Free from what? All the people I've killed? From everything I've done. I gave them this taste for blood, your blood, mine..." Noore explains to us, but she is out of it. She's very upset and isn't in the right mind set.

"Isn't that what you want? More blood?" Noore faces the audience wholly cheer for more blood, and Noore listens to their requests. 

"Noore-" I try to stop her, but she was already too deep to be saved...

"TAKE MORE! TAKLE ALL OF IT YOU FUCKING ANIMALS!" Noore screams as she slides the blade down her entire forearm, leaking blood like a waterfall. Blood soon covered the ground beneath her feet of the arena.

"No, now I'm free." Ajay and I stood there in shock as she began to fall into the arena full of hungry, no, starving tigers, wolves, and asian rhinos. We stood in horror as the animals chowed down on her limp body, pulling her limbs away from her body. It was a sight you couldn't just unsee. The blood covered the arena like an artist had dropped a bucket of red paint in a messy pattern on a blank canvas. It looked like a scene form a horror movie; but a very realistic one. This wasn't a fantasy, this is reality.

I leaned into Ajay's shirt and hid my face, Ajay protectively places his hands around my body and he walks me outside of the arena.

I would never come back to the arena again. Ever.


	22. Trust Is Key

I was sweating, holding the knife tightly in my hands. I was in the arena, but I was alone. I searched the audience for a familiar face, but couldn't seem to find anyone in knew. Not even Ajay.

"Let round one begin!" I hear Noore yell, and it sent shivers down my spine. I had watched the blood drain from her body and the color from her face as she was brutally torn to pieces. It had been something out of a nightmare. I nightmare that was reality; there was no waking up from it. Not ever.

I spot several guards running into the arena. I breathe in deeply, and prepare for the. incoming attack. I was shaking, but felt steady. I kept my stern grip on the knife like my life literally depended on it, and it really did.

I was able to takedown one of the soldiers with a slick hit, and got his gun. Now, I truly had the upper hand. I was confident, and felt virtually unstoppable. This feeling had vanished just as quickly as it had surfaced, sadly.

The white tiger was walking towards me with passion, licking its lips in utter hunger and lust for the flesh on my body. My heart felty like it was beating out of my chest, and time stood still for moment.

"NO!" I scream, and find myself in bed beside Ajay, just as I had been for the night. I was drenched in a thin layer of sweat from head to toe. I was hyperventilating and scared. I hadn't wanted to get a breath of fresh air for a while, this time I needed it.

"D, you're okay. Hey, listen to me, I've got you. It's okay now, it's just a nightmare." Ajay tells me, pulling meant a hug as he sits up with me in the bed. I started to cry, remembering every gory detail of what happened to Noore, I couldn't get it out of my head. It was like a record that wouldn't stop skipping.

I got lost inside of my head while Ajay was talking, all I knew was that he was speaking about a man who knew things about his father and he wanted to learn more about his mother. He just wanted ti know what she wouldn't tell him. But, the guy who somehow knew everything about him was very suspicious.

"I don't trust this guy, Ajay. I don't think he is being honest with you." I express my concern to Ajay, as he gets out of bed and begins to get dressed. I really was worried about this guy, Willis. I didn't know him, and he somehow knew exactly who Ajay was. What I didn't understand was how Ajay was 100% calm about that.

"Delilah, you're overreacting. He just wants me to clear out the airport, it'll help the Golden Path too. It's killing two birds with one stone." Ajay tries to calm me down, and soothe my anxiety but it doesn't work.

"I know, just be careful. This guy couldn't be what he says he is." I tell him, but he just blows it off. He was one stubborn little fucker.

"I love you, D. I'll see you later. Don't get into too much trouble." I laugh at him as he leaves, I'm just scared for him. He has to be a little worried, right?

A few hours went by, and I hadn't heard from Ajay. I had been cleaning up the homestead, getting everything clean and in order. The outside needed some work, but I was up for the task. I sprayed it down and got all the green vines off, and was working on a second coat of paint. By the time I did hear from Ajay, the house was drying. It looked like a totally new house.

"Hey, D-WOAH! The homestead looks great! D-did you do all of this by yourself?" Ajay asks, setting his rocket launcher to the side and taking his big jacket off.

"Yeah..." I say, picking up some of the empty paint cans and brushes from the ground. I was covered in blue and green paint, I didn't mind it though. I had grown up coloring everything; walls and paintings and even sidewalks.

"Delilah, it's amazing!" Ajay says, picking me up and spinning me around. Leaving a kiss just as he sat me back on the ground. He always had a new way to make my heart flutter...

"How'd it go?" I ask, and touch his face lightly. He had some dust on his cheek, clearly from some explosions which I knew he had been in contact with.

"Good, actually. I learned about my father more, but nothing you hadn't already told me." Ajay was looking down, he got serious when he looked at the floor. As if there was something important down there. Spoiler, there wasn't.

"So, this Willis guy, do you trust him?" I ask him, laying down and getting ready for bed. Ajay was still putting his stuff away and putting his guns away.

"I mean, he seems like he's a good guy. So, yeah. I guess so." Ajay tells me, and explains the mission Willis had him do. It sounded rough, and not easy whatsoever.

"That's good, but you can never be too careful. Just look at Yogi and Reggi, they seemed nice nut then they threw you in a fucking arena." I explain why I have been so concerned about this guy.

"D, I know. I really don't think he's that bad. Besides, I'm going to help him out again tomorrow. I'm going to the Himalayas." What? Since when was he going to the Himalayas?

"The Himalayas? Ajay, what the hell?" I slightly raise my voice, if his ,other wasn't here, I'd be the one to tell him that it was crazy. He just gives me a look and smiles.

"I know, but I'll be back before dark. I promise." He says, sliding into bed with me. I slide over away from his cause I was mad at him for calling me dramatic.

"If you aren't back, I'll be pissed." I tell him, facing the wall instead of him. He caught on to my moodiness and turned me around to face him.

"Oh yeah? What if I'm not back, huh?" Ajay says, directly into my ear. He brushes the messy strands of my blonde hair behind my ear and smirks at me. I cant help but grin back. No way was he getting the upper hand.

"I'll...kill you." I tell him, getting on top and asserting my dominance. I smile, but he catches on and stops me.

"I have other ideas..." Ajay says, and he takes over. We drift off into a night of eternal bliss.


	23. Worried Sick

"You sure it will only be two days?" I ask him, disappointed that he'd have to be gone for such a long time. The last meeting with Willis actually went well, so I didn't feel scared when he was helping him out again. I felt more calm, and very anxious for his return.

"Yes, I'll be back in 72 hours or less." Ajay jokes, but I will set a timer and will sit awake for him until the second I see his face. That's just how I am. 

"Please for the love of God, be careful." I tell him, kissing his cheek for last time for up to 72 hours. It was going to be a long few days, and I was scared about how Amita and Sabal would react to Ajay just up and leaving, and how I knew but didn't tell them. What they don't know, can't hurt them.

That was last time I saw Ajay, for two days that is. But two days quickly turned into three. At that point, I was beginning to lose my shit. His smell had began too fade from the homestead as I was cleaning and fixing the light fixtures. I was falling into a depression without this man who was always by my side and suddenly wasn't there anymore.

"Where the fuck is Ajay?" Amita asks me, sitting directly across form me, between a map of northern Kyrat.

"He said he'd be in the Himalayas for two days. He said it'd be in and out." I tell her, but Sabal gets upset, as if it was my fault for not stopping him. Yes, of course I tried that.

"In and out, huh? Well, where is he then?" Sabal says, yelling at me. I knew what I should have, and could have done to stop him. But, I didn't do enough.

"Do you think I fuckin' know?" I yell at Sabal, in my defense. Ajay should have been back and I was ashamed of myself for letting him go. Alone.

"You're the one who let him go in the first place!" Amita yells at me, pointing her finger at me. They were just mad because Ajay is the only one who can fix this fucked up, war-torn country.

"I DIDN'T WANT HIM TO GO IN THE FIRST PLACE!" I scream at the top of my lungs. They had pushed me to my limit. I can only take so much bullshit, until I explode. 

The room went silent for a second and we just sit there. Waiting. Waiting for what?

"We have to go find him. If you guys won't, I sure as hell will." I say, getting my shit together and heading out the door. I was mad, and they sure a shell knew it.

"Delilah, come back." Sabal says, stopping me before I could get too far away from the house.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to get me back in there, you asshat." I yell, trying to get Sabal to change his mind. Maybe pushing him to his limit, would make it cave in. Especially, when Ajay, his one hope for the country, is on the line.

"Delilah, we're getting Ajay back. You coming or not?" I turn around and smile, and nod my head. Sabal shared the same expression and did so with compassion.

"Fuck yeah, I am." I say, going back inside the house. We had a plan. It was go time.

"Delilah, wake up. We're here and we picked up Ajay. We're almost back in Kyrat." I hear Amita say, just across the side of the helicopter. I couldn't remember boarding the helicopter at all, but I happy knowing that my Ajay was safe and okay. Even if he was knocked out, the poor guy was probably tired from dealing with idiots.

Maybe not 'go time' but more like 'leave time' or 'almost home' time. Either way, I was still very happy to see Ajay's return, and I wish he was awake so I could have told him this, but I can do that later in the safety of our own home.

"What happened?" I ask, sitting up from the current slump I was in. Looked over and saw Ajay asleep beside me. He felt cold to the touch, but had several layers of blankets wrapped around him.

"Well, he was in Durgesh prison and somehow managed to escape and we found him just outside of the prison camp almost froze to death." Amita tells me, and Sabal nods in agreement. I couldn't help but want to wrap myself around his freezing body.

The man had been through hell and back, and better yet, that Willis guy is going to get a whole ass beating from me when I find out where he is. And I most certainly wasn't going to let him get away with this, no. He was going to have a whole other thing coming at him...

"Holy shit," I say, putting my hands around his limp body, "you had me worried to death." It was nice to see him again, even if he was an ice burg.


	24. Sleepy Head

"You're up!" I say, looking at Ajay, watching as he opens his eyes. I had my hand tangled with his, and had been that way for a while. 

"Yeah, and you're the luckiest man I know." Amita says, and sits up in her chair. Ajay begins to stir awake, and look around at the both of us, hovering over him.

"Sabal, Delilah and I searched for you for many hours in enemy territory. It's a good thing we found you before you froze to death." Amita told the man, and then I grabbed Ajay's hand and held on tight. I wouldn't be letting him go away for a long time. If ever.

"I've been watching you for three days, but you're awake now and you seem okay. I'll let Delilah take care of you for now. Focus on getting yourself better. There is still a war going on." Amita says, before getting up and leaving the homestead.

"You were right. He was a bad guy, who wanted me to deal with his problems for him."

"I would say I told you so, but that's a bitch move, so I won't." I tell him, earning me a laugh from my joke. Ajay found it funny, score one for me. I was happy to have him back home in one piece.

"Real funny, D." Ajay says, smiling back up at me. I hadn't seen him smile in over a week, and haven't seen him conscious in a few days. It was nice to talk to him with him being fully conscious.

"Real funny for being gone for so long, Ajay." I retort back, and he only sighs. He must have seen some shit when he was up there, I was too afraid to ask. Some things are better left unsaid.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't know what Willis was going to do. Durgesh Prison was like hell, it drove people fucking crazy, like psych ward crazy." Ajay tells me, looking like he remembered something he didn't want to.

"What do you mean?" I ask him, being vague when I ask. 

"I mean, talking nonsense and hurting themselves for no reason, people jumping out of the cells." I was shocked, but also not at the same time, he seemed upset about the event.

"Listen, whatever you saw up there, it's over now. You're safe now." I tell him, rubbing comforting circles around his shoulders. He looks like he saw some shit, but he clearly didn't want to talk about it.

"I know, I just need some sleep."

Sleep was something everyone did. We just weren't aware of it. Maybe that's why we do it; an escape from our problems and into a dream world of unrealistic expectations and realities. Maybe, just maybe, there would be a dream come true in our lives. In Kyrat, for everyone.


	25. A Key to the North

"We don't have access there, but we do here, you see." Amita was talking to a Golden Path soldier when Ajay and I walked into the room.

"Amita, do you have something for us?" Ajay asks, walking closer to Amita and the soldier. 

"Actually, I do. We've been able to free the people in the south, but the north has been cut off from us because of Pagan and his King's Bridge. It is time we take the battle to Pagan's doorstep and free the north."

"So, how exactly do we do this?" I ask, crossing my arms in front of my chest. It sounded a little out there, I mean, it wasn't going to be easy.

"The bridge is heavily defended. The main gate is made of blast resistant concrete; forget conventional explosives and C4. The defenses will shred any frontal attack."

"Okay, but what would blast open the main gate at that kind of magnitude?" Ajay asks, and Amita smiles. Of course, she had a plan for everything that could possibly happen.

"There's a convoy with a chemical truck. I want you to secure it, drive it down their throats, and blast open the gates. It will get us reunited with the north and you one step closer to Yuma." Amita tells Ajay, and walks him out the door. She walks over to me, and grabs my shoulders.

"Protect him at all costs. Be his second pair of eyes." Amita was telling me what I already knew. I had grown fond of the Ghale man. He was like my best friend and my rock. We had been through hell and back together. You cant just throw that away.

"You got it." I tell her, and head out the door, following in Ajay's footsteps. We began the long journey to the King's Bridge. It was about an hour away, but we had managed to get there in the nick of time to obtain the truck and blast open the gates to the north.

"On three, we jump out." I nod and Ajay starts to count down. I was starting to shake and get nervous. I was breathing slowly, and my heart rate was rising. 

"THREE." We both yell as we swing our doors open and roll onto the hard pavement. Looking at the explosion with dust glazing in my eyes.

Royal Guard soldiers arrive from the base beyond the newly destroyed wall. We decided its best to stay close to the walls to protect ourselves from the mounted gun straight ahead, the mortar in front of the green hut to the east, and one of the sniper towers. Ajay was breathing heavily and so was I. This was intense.

Hiding against the wall isn't brave, but it might kept me from dying. More importantly, Ajay. I knew to not to underestimate the Royal Guard, they're tougher and better equipped. 

Once the post was cleared, we enter the mortar shack to broadcast the victory message and prepare for more enemies to arrive from the east. 

"Listen, people of Kyrat, Ajay Ghale, hero of the Golden Path, has captured the bridge and has reunited the lost comrades in the north. This is a historic day for Kyrat, for the liberation of our country and for the blow against Pagan's tyranny." Amita explains, and Ajay and I share a look of pure satisfaction. All the work we had done to get us to this point was not taken for granted. It was eerily satisfying to hear the message and know it would be broadcast to all of Kyrat.

After that, we meet the Golden Path soldiers celebrating at the entrance. It was so nice to know that we had opened another door for Kyrat's freedom. It really was a historical day for Kyrat. One that we'll never forget.

"Congratulations! You can now access Northern Kyrat." The Golden Path members yell in unison. we hugged and began to plan the next day and the next and how it would all pan out.


	26. Keys of Kyrat

"I can't believe we made it, to the north." I say, feeling the breeze flow through my hair, as I roll down the truck windows. It was such a beautiful day to go for a drive in Kyrat. The sun was shining and the trees were the perfect shade of auburn red.

"I know, we're getting closer to Pagan." Ajay says, adjusting his grip on the steering wheel. He was a little tense to say the least. Which, we had just been shot out by the Royal Guard, so I can't blame him too much.

"This could be over soon, Ajay. You deserve to be free of duties." I say honestly, I don't think Amita and Sabal have truly shown him enough gratitude for helping them. He's what got them where they are today.

"This country will need more work than just defeating Pagan, it needs a lot of shit. Medical advances, transportation, better roads that aren't made of dirt, and better housing and food." He wasn't wrong, there was a lot of things to do. Even after Pagan's reign of terror.

"Do you ever miss America? You know, the life you left to come here?" I ask him, curious as to if he ever did miss it. Where he was raised, the place where he went to school and graduated and had friends at.

"I do, but this where I belong. This is my home. Kyrat is where I was born and it's where I will die." He seemed so certain in his words, he truly meant what he had said. It made sense. We hadn't really talked about our future together, but I hadn't been involved.

"I want you to stay with me, after this is all over. Don't go back to America, D. We can raise a family here and grow old together. That's what I want for us." My eyes started to get watery and I felt my heart flutter a bit. No, a lot. My heart was beating a million miles a minute. It was the sweetest thing I had ever heard him say, or that anyone had told me for that matter.

"I will, Ajay." I tell him, he let's go of one hand on the steering wheel to hold my hand. His hands were so warm, they were radiating heat.

I could get used to this...

We weren't too far into northern Kyrat before Amita had called us for the second time today. She wanted us at Utkarsh to reunite the south with the north. Ajay and I agreed to meet the northern Kyrati citizens gladly. Here we go again...


	27. Too Good to Be True

We had made it to Utkarsh. It was significantly colder in the part of Kyrat. People were showing less skin and had thick winter coats on. It was a different degree of dark up in the north. Maybe it was the seasonal depression that swept over the land, but it was probably Pagan's dark reign of terror.

"They're waiting for you downstairs." The man and wife pushes a bookshelf out of the way and leads us down to the other Golden Path members who were in charge of the weapon dispersing and cleaning.

"Ajay, thank you for reuniting us with the Golden Path in the south." The girl tells Ajay, before heading to the opposing side of the room. It was kind of like a basement but had a little hatch that could look into the upstair portion of the house.

"You can tell Amita and Sabal that we are ready to fight. We have targets picked." The man says, but was quickly interrupted by one King Min. You've got to be fucking kidding me.

"Pagan..." The girl whispers and Ajay springs into action, but the man stops him.

"That's my family." Ajay decides to stay out of it, and just listen. Pagan had been going on a bit of a tangent, but that's never stopped him before.

"You have a lovely home, very charming. Look at you, a lovely couple to match a lovely home. Very salt of the Earth." Listen to Pagan speak sent shivers down my spine. He had a very deep, monotonous voice that matched his ruling style.

"I was told that if I ever wanted to experience the hospitality of Utkarsh, you should visit the Ramas. We questioned everyone too, and they all said the exact same thing. They are the friendliest. They would talk to anyone." I had a sneaky suspicion that Pagan was going to do something bad to the couple, and I wanted to say that my gut was wrong. But, I couldn't because I didn't know.

I was lost in my thoughts when I hear two men walk in and began to blast to couple with multiple rounds of gunshots. Ajay opened the hatch and ran after Pagan. I follow him and join him on the hovercraft. He took over driving and took on the task of shooting the King. It all seemed too soon and way too good to be true.

A short radio transmission interrupts us, but we continue our flight. Listening to the absolutely devastating news...

"Hello, Ajay. Hello to you too, Delilah. Did you miss me? Oh wait, yes you did."

"Pagan? I just killed you!" Ajay yells, slamming the hovercraft downwards and landing in a haze. My heart was beating out fo my chest and Ajay's voice was very agitated.

"No, you just ruined a perfectly good body double with hair loss. Do you know how expensive he was to make? He wasn't even asian for Christ's sake! He was from Melbourne I think. His only crime was being born with perfect cheekbones. Who's face do you think is on the money?"

"Fuck, Ajay." I whisper and began to mentally abuse myself. Ugh, I could have killed him in the first day I had arrived here. I was sitting at a dinner table for crying out loud. I should have taken. him out when I was given the chance. It's far too late for that now.

"No matter. What's done is done. I suppose, next time, it'll just be you and me." Pagan's voice sounded so desperate for time with Ajay, it was almost sad. Too bad Ajay didn't care about him that way.

"It's you and I, you illiterate fuckhead." I say, pissed off at Pagan. We had almost killed him, but it was just his fucking stunt double. Who else would have a body double?

"I heard that, Miss Carver. Don't test your luck, you already know too much than you should." I was shocked when we recoiled with a hit like that. Talking about my father like that hit a dark place inside me with a burning hole of pain.

Ajay had seen that, and had put his arms around me, comfortingly. I wanted to kill Pagan with my bare hands, and Ajay knew that too.


	28. Preservation

"I can't tell you what Jalendu means to Kyrat, what it meant to Mohan. He's proud of you, you know that? We're taking the temple, we're cleansing Bhadra, and we're relighting the people with the power of Kyra." Sabal informs Ajay, looking him in the eyes. When Sabal spoke, he didn't waste his breath on unimportant things. He was focused on one thing and one thing only.

"I'm going to secure the temple." Ajay tells Sabal ands walks out of the hut. I follow suit and began to plan out the entrance to the temple, without getting caught. This was going to be a challenge, but I trusted Ajay to make the right calls. I knew that he'd be sure of himself when it came to choices.

"It's Sabal, Yuma and Pagan have been robbing Kyrat for years of our relics of Jalendu. I don't want the army taking away anything that belongs to our people. Take care of their boats before you attack. Make sure none of them can escape." Sabal radios us, I could see soldiers panning the surrounding lake with binoculars.

Ajay and I head to the temple, loaded weapons laying under ourselves. Ajay drove the boat halfway across. the lake and then we decided to bail and swim the rest of the way, as to not be seen by the forces. We didn't need any reinforcements to withhold us from getting the temple.

We successfully defuse all bombs on the premises and have a plan to get the soldiers out if the temple...an ambush. Theoretically, the plan was great, perfect almost.

"Take this you fuckers!" I screamed and threw my fists into the air, picking up my SMG and wiping out soldiers with a single bullet each. I could hear Ajay laugh at me from behind, clearly amused by my tactics. But, they work, so what can I say?

After a few rounds of soldiers, and a few moments of pure silence, we decide that the reinforcements have came to an end. I can't say I was happy, shooting the bad guys with a badass gun was actually kind of fun. It'd be a cool story to tell Hurk next time I see him.

"Sabal, it's done. We have the temple." Ajay radios Sabal, and we gather our things and head back to the shoreline. We were tired to say the least, the sun was going down and the water had cooled down.

"Good work, praise Kyra! I thought for sure that Amita would get there first, she can't stand between the gods and our people." Sabal radios in, and I thought about what he had said. Amita and Sabal are constantly at each others throats. I never could understand why they cant work together for the greater good, but some people aren't made to work with other. Amita likes things her way, or the highway. Sabal wants things to repeat, like a record on repeat. I could see the angles from both sides.

"We will have you ordained, I swear it. You will become Tarun Matara. God be praised, we are almost free now." We hear Sabal talking to Bhadra just outside the temple, and we turned. around before boarding our boat.

"Brother, I just wanted to thank you. And thank you too, Delilah. This moment, right here, you will never forget. I promise you, nobody will forget the son of Mohan when this is finally over. You father would be proud." Sabal tells Ajay, looking at him in a fatherly way.

I had always felt bad for Ajay, he never got the chance to have a father in his life. His own father was murdered by his mother. I couldn't imagine what must be going through Ajay's mind.

"Ajay, you can talk to me about things. You can, and I will always listen." He looks over air me in the boat, and turns the engine off. We sit there for a minute, just sitting atop the water and feeling the slow waves hit the sides of the boat. I could see the moon reflect in Ajay's brown eyes, looking like a painting that should have been hung in a museum.

I lean in towards him, as if on instinct, Ajay pulls my head towards his and kisses my lips. Full of passion, his lips were warm, soft and had a gentle touch to them that made it even better.


	29. Death Valley

Amita and Sabal's disagreements come to a head as Utkarsh is being bombarded by artillery fire. To make matters worse, Utkarsh was going to be wiped off the map regardless of their fights. Ajay and I decide to double and split up.

"Amita, tell me what I need to do." Ajay says, walking over to Amita. I walk over to Sabal, and ask him what I should do for him. I was nervous, not being with Ajay. But I knew I had to do what had to be done.

"I'm taking some men with me to attack the gun enplacements shooting at Utkarsh, you have to hold out until then, Delilah. Be careful." Sabal tells me and I head for Utkarsh, trying to avoid the blows to Utkarsh along the way. The hits were strong enough to shake the ground like an earthquake, the closer I got, the louder each hit was.

The roads are crawling with Min's military, so I decided it was best to stick to the woods. Once I had made it to the town, I only had a little bit of time to prepare for the incoming assault, which I was actually made aware of by the huge fucking explosives.

I place some mines to the east for an explosive welcome to the enemy troops, as I was pissed for the little surprise they had left the town.

I manage to keep an eye out for stragglers, who will use the side streets to slip through. Then, the artillery barrage came. I decided to head inside the building with all the prayer flags for safety. I was a nervous wreak, and I was shaking with fear. I knew that I could be blown up at any moment, and it was scary. Very scary.

The dust had settle with just enough time to pick up some extra ammo and reset the mines I had placed once before. The forces started to attack from the east, north and west.

I try not to stay in just one place as flame throwers were arriving near the end of the attack. I was so nervous for the call from Ajay I'd get after this was all over with. I get to the high ground and shoot their tanks to take them out, and then I duck to avoid being seen. I keep my head down when the artillery came, and waited for the call.

"Delilah? Are you okay?" I hear a familiar voice speak from my radio. I immediately pick it up and speak back.

"Yes, I am. Ajay, did you defuse the artillery?" I ask him, catching my breath, but coughing out smoke from the previous bombs out of my lungs that were so desperately craving fresh air.

"Yeah, it's over. You're safe now." Ajay says, and I smile. I'm not sure if he heard me laugh, but he laughed too.

I wanted to get the hell out of Utkarsh and go home. I didn't realize that my home was Ajay. It was the only part of me I had left of the old me, the pre-Kyrat me. But, I was okay with that. I loved Ajay, and he loved me. Everything was going to be okay.


	30. The {Home}stead

We had made a stop at the homestead and we 'accidentally' fell asleep. I had found myself wrapped and tangled between Ajay and the covers that lie between our bodies.

"Good morning, beautiful." Ajay says, pushing a strand of my blonde hair behind my ear gently. I smiled, he had a way of sending butterflies through my entire body.

"Oh hush." I say, clearly blushing at the statement he had just made. It wasn't like I was trying to hide it, and he knew that. He must have liked that.

"Listen, I actually have something fun for us to do today." Ajay tells me, sitting up in our bed. I started to join him in sitting up.

"Oh yeah? What's that?" I ask him, whipping the bit of sleepy I had in my eyes out. I had no idea of what Ajay had in mind. It literally could be anything. I just hope it has absolutely nothing to do with those little shits, known as honey badgers. Those fuckers drive me mad.

"We're going to fix up the homestead and maybe redo some painting and add some decorations. You in?" I smile, Ajay was going to finish what I had started a few days prior. I was already getting hype.

"Hell yeah." I say, I was always a whore for some fixer upper show on HGTV. I loved to do renovations so this task was something I was totally down for.

We started with the outside, and finished painting the walls that I had not finished. We hung strings of lights across one of the dominant trees in the yard and included a large elephant statue with. the colorings of Kyrat, courtesy of Bhadra's grandmother.

"Do you ever think about our future, like getting married and having children of our own?" I ask him, continuing to brush the red paint on the hard wood walls of the homestead.

"I do, but I think Kyrat isn't ready for any more Ghale's at the moment." Ajay smiles and picks up another empty gallon of paint.

We had soon finished the exterior and began to navigate our way to inside. It wasn't exactly 'clean' but it wasn't 'dirty' either. It needed some extra staging things to sort of fill the room. Ajay and I had surprisingly quickly gotten the house cleaned up, throwing away old wallpaper and things that gathered dust. It was looking very nice, but something wasn't right...

"Ajay, are you okay?" I ask him, as I turn around. He's holding a picture of his mother, Ishwari, in his hands. He doesn't speak for a while, but I knew something was wrong when I droplet of clear liquid had fallen onto the photograph.

"She was such a wonderful woman, and mother. She always put me above anything else. I-I should've been a better son. It's just too late..." Ajay slowly breaks down, but I catch him in his sobs. I hadn't seen him like this, he was truly missing a piece of his heart, that was his mother. It hurt me deep inside to see him going through this elongated pain of losing a parent, something I had felt once before too.

"She's proud of you, Ajay. You must know that. She loves you very much, she's still looking over you as we speak." I tell him, and he looks at me softly, his eyes are glazed over. His eyes had lost a bit of their shine and I could see how broken he was inside. He wouldn't let anyone in either, but with me, something was different.

"I love you." He says, grabbing my head and embracing my body. I felt him pull me closer and I just wanted him to know how much I care about him. Truth is, I didn't know what to expect when coming to Kyrat, but definitely not finding love. Not that I was complaining...


	31. Tango

"Delilah, are you sure you're okay?" Ajay asks, rubbing my back as I throw up my dinner from the night before. I didn't have a fever, but I was continuing to get sick. It didn't feel good.

"Yeah, I might have some stomach bug or something. Probably nothing serious." I tell him, catching my breath, and I get some water and get the sour taste out of my mouth.

"I really think you should see the doctor at the Rakshasa hospital. Just to make sure everything is alright." Ajay insists, trying his best to convince me to go. I was honestly just being a bit lazy, but mostly I wanted to spend time with Ajay and not somewhere else.

"Ajay, I'm fine." I try to reason with him, but he wasn't taking that for an answer. It bugged me, but I also like the protection Ajay provided when I needed it. He was always there for me, no matter what. I don't know what I would do without him. I have no idea how he has time for everything; the Golden Path, me, Sabal's problems, Amita's womanhood self-esteem issues.

"I just want to be sure. You can never be too careful." Ajay says, furrowing his brows and being genuinely concerned about my health. I knew it was nothing serious as I hadn't really had a fever. I honestly didn't think it was anything serious beyond a simple cold.

"I know." I sigh, crossing my arms in front of my chest. He was right, but was I going to give him the satisfaction of knowing that? Hell no.

"So let me take you." I just give him a look. If looks could kill, I probably would be sent to Durgesh Prison for killing the legends son in pure manslaughter.

"Ajay, I'm not incapable of doing things on my own." I tell him, gathering my stuff and getting dressed for the day. It was early in the morning, maybe seven or eight o'clock in the morning. It wasn't too early, but early enough to still be tired.

"I know that, but you're also very stubborn." Again, he wasn't wrong about that. But, nevertheless, I wouldn't let him know that. He knew all, or so it might seem.

"Fine. But let's hurry. I don't want to be up there all day." I tell him, agreeing to go. I really just wanted to take a long drive. But, I wouldn't tell him that. He doesn't need to know things like that anyway.

It was a long drive, from the homestead to the little makeshift hospital. The main topics of conversation were the next steps for the Golden Path in the north. Amita and Sabal has gotten a few more outposts since we had united the north and south together.

"What seems to be the problem?" The man asks us, he had a very strong Kyrati accent and was very dressed for the role of the head doctor. The hospital was about the size of the homestead, if that big. It wasn't the cleanest of places, but it was significantly more put together than other shacks I had seen driving through Kyrat.

"Just a stomach-" I tell the man, but was interrupted by the Ghale son.

"Something is wrong, and I think it's serious." Ajay tells the doctor, and seems to be thoroughly investigation my medical issues.

"Ajay-" I try to stop him, and he doesn't listen. Instead, he just keeps laughing.

"Can you help her?"Ajay asks the doctor. I just look at the ground. I was listening to the two discuss my medical history despite me being right in front of their noses.

"Of course. Symptoms?" It was like being interrogated but in a hospital. I felt like a juvenile delinquent being in this awkward situation.

"Nausea, vomiting and dizziness." I tell the man, who had a slightly dirty white coat on. He was trying his best to look the part. I was just eerily worried and quiet as he did his job.

"I can run a few tests here, but it may take a while. We don't have the fancy equipment the states has." It was clear that statement was true, seeing the state the hospital was in. It needed some...repairs.

"That's okay. Can you just radio me and let me know what you find out?" I ask him, trying to make Ajay happy. It seemed to work. I knew nothing was wrong, but he seemed to think otherwise.

"Yes, though it could be hours or days." The doctor tells us, and we began to pack our stuff and leave. Ajay says something before we leave.

"Well, thank you for the help. We appreciate it." Ajay tells the man and I agreed and nodded my head.

Ajay's phone rings, and he immediately picks up. I look over at him and he mouths to me 'it's Amita' and I stay quiet. It's Amita needing him for some Golden Path supplies for the north. I knew he was going to take it.

"You can just drop me off at the homestead on your way to the north." I tell him, as he hangs up the phone and comes back to me near the truck.

"You sure you'll be okay?" Ajay asks, putting his hands back in his pockets of his jacket. It wasn't even cold in the slightest. He somehow always needed to be bundled in a million layers of clothes. I knew he looked better without them.

"Yes, Ajay. I'll be just fine." I remind him, as we head back to the homestead. It made me sad that every spare moment that Ajay had, either Amita and Sabal needed Ajay 'urgently' as if he was a robot with no sleep needed. Didn't they know he is just a human?

"Listen, I'll be back in no time. Don't be too crazy, okay?" Ajay says, walking me up to homestead. It had been recently raining, not very much, but enough to still smell the scent it had left before.

"Very funny." I laugh at him, and he only smirks back at me. He must have thought he was so smart.

"I thought it was pretty clever." He was such a smart ass. But I loved every second of it. I continued inside the homestead and was going to lie down for a nap before I hear my radio buzz in.

"What now?" I moan in pure aggravation. I just wanted people to leave me alone. Was that too much to ask for?

"This is Doctor Reiko from Rakshasa Hospital, and I have something you might want to know. You might want to sit down." The doctor tells me, calming speaking through the phone. I was expecting a negative for pretty much anything.

"Okay, spit it out." I say, sighing as I do so. I was actually getting nervous. I knew deep down I'd be fine, but something in the pit of my stomach made me feel otherwise.

"You're not suffering from any stomach bugs or flu-like illnesses, but you are indeed pregnant."


	32. Can You Keep A Secret?

One word. Two syllables. A heart beat. Pregnant.

I hung up on the doctor in shock. What? What would I do with a baby? How is Ajay going to react to this news? He had told me he didn't want kids right now, at the state that Kyrat is in. I was shaking, and my palms were sweating, and I was panting. I was trying to calm myself down but, I was lost. I hadn't been this lost ever.

"Ajay, you should come home." I call Ajay, and I needed someone to talk to. I didn't know what to do. I had no idea what this meant, what I can and can't do. I just don't know.

"What? Is everything okay? I'll be there as soon as I can." He says, sounding panicked and clearly concerned. I didn't know where he was exactly, but it probably wasn't very close.

"No, don't rush. It's not immediate...yet." I say, trying to sound like I hadn't just had a midlife crisis. But, some things are hard to hide. This was one of those things.

"Don't move, I'm coming." I was pacing around the homestead, chewing my fingernails down to nothing. I was so in my head, I didn't notice when Ajay walked in the door.

"Hey, hey. I'm here, what's going on?" Ajay says, running towards me. He had dropped everything to get to me. I felt bad, but this was important. It was a human person, growing inside of my body.

"I don't know how to say this, I-I'm scared." I say, shaking and trembling underneath him. He noticed, and tried to calm me down.

"Whatever it is, I will be right by your side the entire time." Ajay tells me, comforting me in the best way.

"I'm pregnant." The room went silent. Dead silent. Ajay froze, and didn't move muscle for a minute. I walked closer to him, and he hugs me. I was surprised, he. just held onto me for a moment. It was like time had stopped.

"So, you're not mad?" I ask, being. very quiet about it. I just looked at the floor. As if there was something remotely interesting there.

"Mad? Of course not! This is a miracle, D. It may not be the best timing, but it's a gift." Ajay tells me, and crouches down to kiss my belly. His hands manage to cover almost all of my torso.


	33. Split

One word. Two syllables. A heart beat. Pregnant.

I hung up on the doctor in shock. What? What would I do with a baby? How is Ajay going to react to this news? He had told me he didn't want kids right now, at the state that Kyrat is in. I was shaking, and my palms were sweating, and I was panting. I was trying to calm myself down but, I was lost. I hadn't been this lost ever.

"Ajay, you should come home." I call Ajay, and I needed someone to talk to. I didn't know what to do. I had no idea what this meant, what I can and can't do. I just don't know.

"What? Is everything okay? I'll be there as soon as I can." He says, sounding panicked and clearly concerned. I didn't know where he was exactly, but it probably wasn't very close.

"No, don't rush. It's not immediate...yet." I say, trying to sound like I hadn't just had a midlife crisis. But, some things are hard to hide. This was one of those things.

"Don't move, I'm coming." I was pacing around the homestead, chewing my fingernails down to nothing. I was so in my head, I didn't notice when Ajay walked in the door.

"Hey, hey. I'm here, what's going on?" Ajay says, running towards me. He had dropped everything to get to me. I felt bad, but this was important. It was a human person, growing inside of my body.

"I don't know how to say this, I-I'm scared." I say, shaking and trembling underneath him. He noticed, and tried to calm me down.

"Whatever it is, I will be right by your side the entire time." Ajay tells me, comforting me in the best way.

"I'm pregnant." The room went silent. Dead silent. Ajay froze, and didn't move muscle for a minute. I walked closer to him, and he hugs me. I was surprised, he. just held onto me for a moment. It was like time had stopped.

"So, you're not mad?" I ask, being. very quiet about it. I just looked at the floor. As if there was something remotely interesting there.

"Mad? Of course not! This is a miracle, D. It may not be the best timing, but it's a gift." Ajay tells me, and crouches down to kiss my belly. His hands manage to cover almost all of my torso.


	34. The Final Push

"We've been waiting for you two. We're rallying for one final push. We're hitting Pagan's fortress, it won't be easy. I heard about Sabal, whatever you're feeling about it, just know that Amita only wants what is best for you and Kyrat." The lead soldier tells Ajay, and I only look at him.

Now, it's time to head to the red doors and set up a C4 charge. We blow the doors open and get prepared for a constant wave of enemies. Before we entered the doors though, we fill up on ammo with the crate to the left of the doors. There is everything from pistol ammo to rockets, so we should be ready to rock and roll.

We start with the armory. Ajay and I take this area, whilst the rest of them split up and took the command center and the headquarters. We eye the doorways with crossed swords near them. We managed to get the drop on the incoming enemies and were able to take out a crowd of troops with a well-timed grenade.

"Holy shit!" Ajay says, laughing at my shot. It was pretty good though, even if I do say it so myself.

To capture this area, we stay in the zone. We focus our fire on the entrance points that feature the scimitar crosses on the wall. It was strangely beautiful and fit the Kyrati scenery perfectly.

The third and final section we must take control of is the HQ, which is the higher elevation point in the fortress. We stay mindful to stay near walls and not out in the open. I was nervous and very cautious as I was walking, avoiding gunshots, molotovs, and grenades of all shapes and sizes along the way. There is a mounted heavy gun at the top of one of the watch points. I run for it.

After being able to successfully capture all three zones, the royal army tries to mount a counter attack. There are a number of jeeps incoming, so we get to the heavy gun immediately. There are a number of individual troops, half a dozen troop vehicles, all entering from below, so it's a hallway of death for them as long as I am able to stay on the heavy gun. I am getting scared, but this is the last push; win or lose. This is the end.

"They're carrying troops and heavy guns, so it's not something to ignore. There are approximately three major waves of incoming troops." Ajay says, relaying the information from the troops above the walls who can see who's coming.

After the royal army's counter attack has been thwarted, it is time to send a message to Pagan Min. Everyone heads over to the golden statue, to watch as Ajay drops some C4 and takes him down.

"Really, Ajay? What do you have against my likeness? First all fo those posters, killed my body double, and now this? Am I missing a hint? Should I start taking this personally? That statue was solid fucking gold. Literally. I am not being metaphorical. Do you know how many artifacts I had to melt down to get it made? What's done is done and dinner is nearly ready."


	35. Confrontation

"Come in! I apologize for the austerity, I sent the help home. Chances are you two shot the on your way in." Pagan speaks, pouring a glass of wine.

"Now, to whom am I speaking? The son who returned to scatter his mother's ashes...or the lunatic who has murdered his way up to the top of my mountain. If I was speaking to the first guy, I would say sit down, let's be civilized, and enjoy some crab rangoon. Ah, we tried that before, didn't we?" Pagan says, talking to the both of us.

"So then you must be the second guy, who didn't listen and decided instead to join the other monkeys and start throwing. his shit around." Pagan says, specifically to Ajay. I only get madder with each passing second.

"We're not here to have a fucking family reunion. We want answers and we want them now." I tell him, and he gets defensive immediately as I do so. It was like he was running on autopilot.

"Not so fast, Delilah. I know about your little secret, that isn't much of a secret anymore, haven't you noticed? I call a do-over. You have two choices; shoot me, boring, or you could sit down, enjoy some food and I'll tell you everything you want to know." Pagan bargains, and I go for it. Ajay had learned his truth, it was time for me to learn mine. Ajay and I just glance at each other. I obviously wanted to figure out why the hell my father would work for a man like Pagan, and Ajay knew that.

"What secret? I don't know what you're talking about." Deep down, I knew that he knew the secret Ajay and I had kept for so long, from the Golden Path.

"Come on! You're showing. You're carrying the newest member of the Ghale bloodline. you're pregnant." I stop breathing for a second. How the fuck did he know that?

"H-how did you know that?" I ask him, glancing at Ajay and he was just as shocked as I was. I didn't know how the information got to Pagan, but I intended to find out.

"Nothing but a handy little microchip." Ajay and I look equally petrified and wonder if anyone else knows the information. There would be people who wanted me and the child dead...people like Pagan.

"So, what would you like to know?" Pagan asks us, as he eats a piece of his crab rangoon. I only think of everything about my entire childhood. There was so many empty holes inside of my heart that my father was supposed to fill.

"Why was my father working for you? Why wouldn't you let him come home? Where is he?" I ask, stumbling over every word of each sentence. I had practiced this scenario in my head a million times, but I never thought I'd find out like this, from a guy like this.

"Woah, my dear. Patience is a virtue. Your father, Gilead Carver, was a very useful man. He delivered well, very extraordinary work. But, he was distracted. So, I had his letters stopped being sent and led him to believe that I had sent you and your mother far, far away. I constantly threatened to kill you, and he would do anything I say, when I said it." Pagan said, taking a sip from his wine glass. I wanted to shove the whole fucking bottle of wine down his throat for what he has done to my family. He took my father away from me, my mother's sanity, and my childhood.

"You piece of shit." I say, tearing up. Ajay puts his hand calmingly over mine, but I stay upset.

"Listen, Delilah. I'm not finished. The reason he came to Kyrat was to kill me. He was hired by the CIA in the United States, as they thought I could pose as a threat to the Americas. But, I was able to stop him, by simply threatening him. He then helped me write 'newspapers' for the people of Kyrat as a way of spreading the word of the King."

"But, that doesn't make sense. My father sent me letters and he sounded like he was with the Golden Path, not with you." I say, questioning very letter I had ever gotten from my father. Everything I had ever thought about my father, was completely and utterly false.

"That's because he was with the Golden Path, and had been for a while. He tried to kill me, but I sent him to the arena. I watched him get ripped to shreds by a bengal tiger. I watched his blood scatter across the floor of the arena, I listened to his deafening screams for help as he took his last breath." A piece of my heart shatters, and I look at Ajay. He gives me the saddest sympathetic face I've ever seen. It made me want to run away and hide and pretend I don't exist.

"Fuck you-" I tell him, tasting the salty tears as they fall down my cheek and slip into my mouth. It was not what I had expected. I never thought that would be how my father would die. I never thought I couldn't grow old and still have my father around. I wanted so desperately for Pagan to lie, but why would he lie at this point?

"That's not very nice, now is it?" Pagan says, taking another sip from his wine glass. Ajay tried to keep me as calm as he could be, but I was too far gone.

"Well, let's not put it off any longer. Come on, and bring your mother, Ajay." Pagan tells him, and we follow behind him. I could tell that Ajay was getting tense, and I couldn't blame him. I would be too.

"You do realize that urn represents all that's left of the old Ajay. The pre-Kyrat Ajay. Once you spread those ashes all the ties you have to that previous life are gone. Well, you could do what I did after Mohan killed Lakshmana. Yes, your father killed your half-sister, and your mother killed him in return. I simply continued where she left off." Pagan had confirmed what. I had told Ajay before, I don't think it really hit him until it came from Pagan.

"All choices have consequences. I've given you Kyrat, but I'm keeping the helicopter." Pagan says, I smile and laugh, and Ajay looks at me funny.

I pull out my rocket launcher and shoot the helicopter down as Pagan flies away. If Noore, Paul, and Yuma were left to die, Pagan should be too.

"Delilah, what did you do?" Ajay looks at me, and just looks stunned. He gives me the look that a lost puppy would give an innocent bystander. He looked both surprised and relieved at the same time.

"Finishing what you started."


	36. Loose Ends

"Listen, I don't know what you're thinking right now, but you are going to be okay. If anyone understands losing a father, it's me. Let me help you, D." Ajay says, and I only glance at the now empty skies after I shot Pagan down.

"I know Ajay, I was in there. I can't get it out of my head." I say, numb and emotionless. Kyrat and changed me, not in a good way. Sure, I was stronger. But was I still me? The question was left unanswered.

"Where? What are you talking about?"

"I was in that arena, watching you fight. I had no fucking idea that my father had died in that same place. Steps away from where Noore killed herself. That's fucking crazy, Ajay!" I say, letting a single tear slide down my cheek. Ajay wiped the tear from my face and brushed my stray hair out of my face.

"We're going be okay." I believed him. The following days were filled with celebration and preparing for the next step; rebuilding and uniting. Pagan's reign of terror was now over. After thirty dark years, Kyrat is seeing the light of day; the light of Kyra.

Amita was now in complete charge of the Golden Path, which was the new army of Kyrat. It was one strong army, but the people were left scarred and had been robbed of a peaceful life.

I was now nearly eight months along in my pregnancy, and Ajay had somehow managed to become more overprotective than he already was.

I was happy, being in Kyrat with Ajay by my side and a little Ghale along the way. As soon as we had learned it was a girl, Ajay wanted to name her Lakshwari. The combined names of the two women that made an impact on his life. Things had begun to fall into place, as all things should be.

The thing was, my new life as a Kyrati citizen was only just beginning.


End file.
